Articles by Dan

After eighteen days abroad in the South Pacific, traveling to Tahiti to Australia, it was finally time for Ann Taylor and I to return home. Going into the trip, we knew that our return voyage would be incredibly long, but we had hoped that the rest of the vacation would make it worthwhile to spend more than eighteen hours in the air. Looking back, I can confidently say that every moment on the ship – and at the amazing ports that we explored – was worth every minute in the air.

Today’s timeline gets pretty confusing as we gained a full day traveling east across the International Date Line. Despite assurances from the concierge, I was still a little nervous about the St. Patrick’s Day parade disrupting our early morning travel plans; fortunately, we had absolutely no issues catching a cab around 7:45am local time in Sydney. At the airport, there was a long line for the Qantas check-in, but, like any good Shaw, I had left plenty of time to account for any delays. We did learn that we would need to pick up our bags in Los Angeles and re-check them for the second leg to New York. The flight number was actually the same for both flights, although we had a different plane (with a different crew) for each segment. Despite the crowds, the Sydney airport was very easy to navigate, and we gradually made our way to the food court for a quick breakfast before we started boarding. Of course, we also loaded up on snacks at the Hudson News – or whatever they call the airport bookstores in Australia – in preparation for a long flight.

The boarding process was smooth, and it was not long before we were in our seats. I had booked early – of course! – and arranged for a bulkhead row at the front of the economy cabin. Not only did we have unlimited legroom, but no one sat in the window seat (in a 3-4-3 arrangement), so we had plenty of room to store things during the flight. The A380 is a beautiful plane, and to the extent that any 13 ½ hour trans-Pacific flight can be considered smooth, our flight was smooth. The flight attendant never went more than an hour without offering a meal, snack, or drink, and everything was pretty tasty, at least by in-flight standards. We passed the time by watching a great selection of in-flight movies (e.g., Interstellar, The Imitation Game), reading our Kindles, and trying to rest. I say trying because even though we would have liked to sleep, especially later during the flight, we took off around 11:30am local time, so it still felt mid-day, even when the window shades were closed to darken the cabin. We tried to remember to stand up and stretch every couple of hours, which also provided an opportunity to visit the self-service snack galley (!) in the middle of the economy cabin. This was definitely not flying on a regional jet from Atlanta to Mobile.

When we touched down in Los Angeles around 6:30am local time on Sunday – yes, earlier than when we had taken off in Sydney – we were pretty tired, but we were glad to be among the first off the plane. Fortunately, we had no issues with locating either of our checked bags at the baggage carousel, and U.S. customs and passport control were slow, but smooth. LAX had a kiosk for U.S. citizens to answer the standard customs questions and take our photos; however, the paper printout did not seem to help us to save any steps or time. Maybe this is still a work-in-progress. Throughout our time at LAX, we were relieved that we were never in danger of missing our connection, as Qantas operates both flights, and almost all of the LAX-JFK passengers were coming from our SYD-LAX segment. After refreshing our snack backpack at an authentic Hudson News – at least I think it was … we were pretty zoned out at this point – we arrived at the gate in time to learn that one of the runways at JFK had been shut down due to high winds. Boarding started about twenty minutes late, but, again, was quite smooth, and we were settled into our seats in no time. We were in the middle of the 3-4-3 cabin, but there was no one seated next to me, so we still had a bit of extra room. Before the cabin door closed, the pilot let us know that we would be delayed – possibly up to five hours (!) – due to the JFK runway situation. Fortunately, they were able to negotiate a window for the poor jetlagged Australian passengers, and we were in the air around 10:00am local time, only a half-hour or so after our scheduled departure.

Compared to 13 ½ hours from Sydney to Los Angeles, 4 ¾ hours from Los Angeles to New York was a breeze. Physically, we still felt that we were on Australian Eastern Time, around 4am at take-off, and it was difficult to keep our eyes open during the flight. Having filled up on snacks during the first flight, we only picked at our domestic lunch, although we continued to drink as much water as possible. Neither Ann Taylor nor I is a great sleeper on airplanes, but we did our best to catch up on rest, knowing that we would need to start acclimating back to Eastern Time. We landed around 6pm local time on Sunday – the same day that had welcomed us back in Sydney, close to 24 hours earlier. There was a delay for our aircraft to pull into our gate, but we were both too tired to care. When we finally deplaned, we made our way to the JFK baggage claim, and we were again very relieved that both of our checked bags had arrived safely. After climbing into a cab, we checked our cell phones to find that Princess had already emailed a “welcome home – how was your cruise?” survey. I was diligent about not checking my work email while on vacation, but I had used the second flight and the cab ride to start catching up so that I would not be overwhelmed at work tomorrow morning. There are few fire drills in user experience design, but it was a relief to read that everything had gone smoothly while I was away. Ann Taylor did her best to continue to power through the cab ride, once again demonstrating that she is the best travel partner that a guy could ask for. We were both exhausted, but I know that “flying for two” – especially for more than eighteen hours – is a lot to ask.

Pulling up to our building at almost 8pm, we were so glad to finally be home. At this point, we were approaching 30 hours without sleep, and more than ready to go to bed. After almost three weeks of gourmet meals on the ship, our final vacation dinner consisted of nachos and cereal on our couch. It may not have been lobster or kangaroo, but it was exactly what we needed. And, looking back, I think that this vacation was exactly what we needed, too. At the tail end of Winter, it felt great to exchange snow and ice for the sun and sand of the South Pacific. We met a lot of pleasant and interesting people on the ship, yet we also had a lot of time just to ourselves. I really enjoyed all of the new places that we visited, and I think that our itinerary was full of fun and memorable excursions on shore. Naturally, I think that the visit to Hobbiton ranks at the top of my list, although snorkeling with sharks in Bora Bora is a close second. As our family grows, I have no idea when we will next have the opportunity to take a nearly three week vacation, or to see any of the same ports in the South Pacific, so I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to explore the world with Ann Taylor. This has been a more restful and more rewarding vacation that I could have hoped for, and, without a doubt, my favorite babymoon ever!

We have finally made it to Australia! Our goal for our day in Sydney was to see as much as possible without running around and exhausting ourselves, and I think that we found a perfect balance. Let’s start from this morning, though. Our wake-up call was early – 5:45am – as the captain had previously announced that we would be passing under the Sydney Harbour Bridge around 6am. He was right about the time, but he had failed to mention that it would still be pitch black that early in the morning, and it was only the lights of the ship and of the city that enabled us to see anything. Oh well. We got dressed, gathered our last things, and went up to the Panoramic Buffet for a packed breakfast with the other disembarking guests. While the food on the ship has, overall, been pretty good, I will be glad to skip the buffet eggs and sausage for a while. We had selected the first available departure time, meeting in the Cabaret Lounge at 7:50am. It would have been nice to sleep in a bit longer, but the only way to see Sydney without feeling rushed was to wake up early and power through.

As the first group off the ship, we had almost no lines going through passport control and customs, and Ann Taylor was glad to add an Australian stamp to her passport. We spotted both of our suitcases immediately – thankfully! – stopped by the ATM for Aussie dollars, and we were in a taxi by 8:15am, even earlier than I had hoped. Another fifteen minutes, and we had arrived at the Sheraton at the Park hotel, at the northern end of Sydney’s Hyde Park. Ann Taylor made the astute observation that in less than a year we had stayed near Hyde Parks in both London and Sydney. Are there any others in the world that we should explore? At 8:30am, our room was, understandably, not yet ready, so we checked our bags and set out to explore Australia. Today was another gorgeous day, so we walked up to Circular Quay, which is part of the main harbor, with the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House at opposite ends. Of course, we started with the requisite tourist pictures in front of both landmarks, although we elected to pass on the nearly ubiquitous selfie sticks.

Shortly after 10am, we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, which was highly recommended on TripAdvisor, where I found most of the activities for our vacation. I am sure that the temporary and permanent collections were truly inspiring examples of modern art, but I simply don’t have the eye to appreciate colored fluorescent tubes arranged on a wall. Thus, I was glad when Ann Taylor agreed to call an audible and duck out after only thirty minutes. Thankfully, there was a craft fair in The Rocks neighborhood next door. Yes, the museum was such a dud that I was thankful to kill time at a craft fair. There were some interesting souvenirs, but I shuddered at the prospect of trying to safely transport a boomerang home, and then figure out somewhere to display it in our apartment. Aside from a few postcards, we decided to save the local souvenirs for our return trip to Australia, whenever that may be. Walking around the harbor, we actually ran into other guests, and a few crew members, who we had met on the ship. It turns out that we were not the only ones who thought that The Rocks, which was originally home to Sydney’s prisons, was a great place to spend the morning.

After our early start, I had planned for an early lunch, with an 11:30am reservation at The Australian hotel restaurant in The Rocks. Before we left New York, I had searched for places to try local cuisine in Sydney, although most of the highly rated restaurants – at least per TripAdvisor standards – featured French, Japanese, Indian, etc. foods. Who knew that it would be so difficult to eat a marsupial in Australia? Thankfully, The Australian featured the “Coat of Arms” pizza, with half-kangaroo and half-emu. Probably not the best way to try Australian food, but with dried cranberries and red peppers, the kangaroo half was quite tasty! The emu half was also good, and I also enjoyed a beer from New South Wales, which was much better than the non-alcoholic beer that I had mistakenly ordered during the second pub lunch on the ship. Ann Taylor seemed to really enjoy her crispy bacon pizza, so we were both fans of our first Australian dining experience.

Although we did not have time to walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, we knew that we wanted to explore the Opera House, with a guided tour at 1:30pm. We learned about the history of the building, which recently celebrated its fortieth anniversary. The guide took us into the main theater where the symphony performs, and four smaller theaters that host more intimate plays, dances, and concerts. The Opera House was just as impressive from the inside as from the outside, and we were very glad to have an opportunity to learn more about such an iconic Australian building. Apparently a survey from a few years back revealed that more non-Australians know of the Sydney Opera House than know about Sydney itself. It has been so nice for Ann Taylor and I to get to know both! After the walking tour, we stopped for a snack at a gelato spot on the harbor. Ann Taylor gets all of the credit for this spontaneous idea, which was just as nice – maybe better? – than the activities that I had planned on our Excel itinerary. I suspect that our blend of planning and spontaneity will come in handy many times with Baby Shaw.

On the way back to the hotel, we took the long route through the Royal Botanic Gardens, another highly rated destination, and one that was a lot easier to appreciate than the museum. We walked through open fields, near cultivated rose gardens, and past a wide variety of native trees, which featured a wide variety of native spiders. Those things were big! Thankfully, we avoided running into – or stepping on – any of the native snakes that Australia is known for. After our natural detour, we arrived back at the hotel in mid-afternoon, and we were able to check into our room. We had a couple of hours to relax before dinner, so we took the opportunity to write out postcards, rest on the couch, and enjoy the views of Hyde Park and the eastern side of Sydney. Ann Taylor and I also appreciated the elbow room of a hotel room that was three times larger than the cabin where we had spent the past sixteen nights. We learned that the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade would make its way past the hotel in the morning, but the concierge confirmed that it would not be an issue for us to catch a cab to the airport tomorrow.

Ready for another Australian dining experience, Ann Taylor and I walked over to Darling Harbor, which was an electric hub of shopping and dining on Saturday evening. We had reservations at The Meat and Wine Co. at the southern end of Darling Harbor. The service was not quite as wonderful as we had experienced on the ship, but the food was even better! After sharing a very tasty bread board, I had the kangaroo steak – free from any mozzarella or tomato to mask the taste – and Ann Taylor had a skewer of beef fillet. Both of our meals were quite good, and we enjoyed them while watching the sun set over Darling Harbor. It was really the perfect finale to our vacation dining – so good, in fact, that neither of us had room for dessert for the first time in two weeks. After dinner, we walked around the other side of Darling Harbor, then over the bridge that took us back to the hotel. We learned that there would be fireworks over Darling Harbor at 9pm; however, with a long travel day ahead of us, we wanted to ensure that we got as much rest as possible.

If, yesterday, I could hardly believe that it was our last day on the ship, it is even harder to believe that we return home tomorrow. We will fly from Sydney to Los Angeles, arriving earlier on Sunday morning (local time) than we took off, before we fly to New York, to complete the journey home. As much fun as we have had in the South Pacific, I believe that both Ann Taylor and I are ready to get home and see our friends and family – and, yes, our co-workers, too – again. What a fabulous vacation this has been!

I can hardly believe that we have reached the final day of our cruise. It feels like just yesterday that we boarded in Tahiti, exploring our cabin and the ship, and meeting the guests and crew with whom we would be spending the next two weeks. Our last day at sea started very similar to the previous seven, by sleeping in and enjoying breakfast from the Panoramic Buffet. As we are now in the western part of the Tasman Sea, the waves have picked up to their strongest levels of the cruise. If today was our first day on the ship, I think that the movement would bother us more, but we have surely achieved our sea legs after fifteen days in the South Pacific. Ann Taylor had hoped to spend a bit of time in the sun on the pool deck today, but the clouds – and a bit of morning rain – have dampened those plans.

Instead of scoring some rays, we decided to score some trivia points, with the last morning session of the cruise. Our confidence has steadily increased over the past two weeks, and with a bit of luck – and a few more days – we may have been able to win a round or two. Still, I continue to be the only individual who knows all of the technological acronyms (e.g., URL, CAD), which gives us a slight advantage of the other guests who were all born before my parents. Also in the morning, we returned to the Cabaret Lounge for the last lecture from Captain Dale. Today’s topic was a little broader, as he shared stories from the Canadian Air Force, Air Canada, and the world of private luxury jets. Overall, I believe that we attended five of the eight aviation lectures, and we learned quite a bit about flying, which is especially reassuring with a couple of long flights home still ahead of us.

Our final lunch on the ship consisted of a cheeseburger and chicken sandwich from the Ocean Princess barbecue. The highlight of the afternoon was a crew talent show, which featured performances from the dining, bar, housekeeping, laundry, and gym staff. One crew member played the drums, while all of the other songs were sung individually by the crew. We found that there is some real hidden talent across the ship! At the end of the talent show, the Ocean Princess dancers and cruise directors sang a group version of “If I Were Not Upon The Sea”, with verses and costumes that highlighted alternate occupations such as tennis player, nurse, and taxi driver. It was definitely a “you had to be there” performance, but we thought that it was very funny, especially when the cruise director came out as a fairy ballerina, complete with pink tutu. He also sang a very impressive version of “Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera (note: this was before he changed into the tutu).

After one last afternoon trivia session, we changed for our final dinner in the club restaurant. Quite a few “last” activities today! This also meant that this would be the only dinner when I did not spend the last few moments ordering my meal for the next evening. One of the nicest parts of cruising – on both Princess and Disney – is how well they treat people who suffer from food allergies. With a nut allergy, the head waiter and kitchen staff ensure that my appetizers, entrees, and desserts are all safe, which gives me a lot of peace of mind to be able to try new dishes at sea. As an added bonus, all of my tablemates also get a sneak peek at the dinner menu for the next day so that they can start salivating over the next set of tasty desserts. Tonight, I had the New York sirloin and deep dish apple pie (nut free!), while Ann Taylor stuck with the chicken and dark cherry sorbet. The last night of the cruise also featured the traditional – for most cruise lines – baked Alaska, although we were both too full to try any tonight. We bid farewell to the Canadian couple and the wait staff, then returned to our room to finish packing, as we needed to place our large suitcases outside of our room shortly after dinner.

Throughout the day, we have been sharing goodbyes with the other couples that we met on tours, through trivia, and by simply living together at sea for the past two weeks. Tonight was our opportunity to say goodbye to the Cabaret Lounge, with another performance from the Australian Dolly Parton impersonator – from a few days earlier – this time performing cover songs as herself. The second show was definitely better than the first, although less well-attended as the combination of packing and the rougher waters surely kept a few guests in their rooms. After the show, we bid adieu to Simon, the cruise director, who bonded with Ann Taylor over Grey’s Anatomy. It was also easy for him to remember us, as we were the youngest passengers on the ship, and the only couple celebrating their babymoon.

A third trivia session at 9:30pm would have been too much for us, so we returned to the room to finish packing and get to bed early. We will gain an hour overnight, but we need to be off the ship at 7:50am, so we want to get as much rest as possible. Even after recapping the day, it still feels unbelievable that we are actually disembarking tomorrow morning, but our room is reserved for a couple traveling from Sydney to Singapore, and we are eager to make the most of our day in Australia. Tomorrow we will say g’day, but for now, I say g’night!

For the second of our three days at sea, we took advantage of gaining an hour overnight (while we travel east to west) to sleep in. Each evening, after dinner, we receive a Princess Navigator, which outlines the calendar of events for the following day. Today’s itinerary did not have many highlights, so there was definitely not a rush to get moving in the morning. At the start of our cruise, I had purchased an internet package, and I used some time this morning to catch up on news from the outside world. Without a newspaper or streaming sports network (i.e., ESPN), it has been difficult to follow Yankees Spring Training and Boston College sports news. Generally, I have been impressed at the internet speeds, and the Wi-Fi signal is very strong in our room, which enables us to use my laptop to connect, rather than the internet café. It has been really nice to be able to stay in touch with friends and family over email, and I have loved sharing our photographs on Facebook. When I get away from it all, I definitely like to stay connected.

After lunch, we sat and chatted with some friends from our Moorea tour. It has really been amazing how many people we have met on the ship, and it is almost impossible for us to walk around without running into someone that we know. With Baby Shaw on the way, I suspect that it will be awhile before our next cruise, but it would be nice to keep in touch with some of the couples that we have met. My parents have actually gone on multiple cruises with the same couples, and I wonder if anything similar is in our future – at least a few decades from now. After another trip to the gym, Ann Taylor and I enjoyed our second pub lunch in the steakhouse. Throughout our vacation, I have endeavored to try different beers – especially local ones – and, for lunch, I ordered a beer that I had not heard of before. Well, it turns out that the beer was non-alcoholic and quite gross. Thankfully, the battered fish, French fries, and mushy peas were all very tasty.

We continued to relax in the room in the early afternoon, and then made our way back up to the Tahitian Lounge for our first trivia session in a few days. Although we achieved our highest score yet – 14 of 20! – it was for naught, as we were one point shy of the highest group score. It has been interesting to continue to see how competitive some teams get, especially toward the end of the cruise. The Princess lanyards are hardly a prize worth arguing over, but these senior citizens can get rather feisty! After trivia, we changed our clothes for the third and final formal night of the cruise. The Canadian couple that sits at our table elected to order dinner in their stateroom tonight, so Ann Taylor and I had a quieter meal after a quieter day. The dinner options have definitely picked up a bit over the past few nights, as I enjoyed lobster tail with king prawns, and Ann Taylor had braised beef short ribs. She again asked for the sorbet for dessert, while I tried the “floating islands”, which consisted of small dollops of meringue in a vanilla sauce. Definitely another recipe that I am planning to look up and add to our queue!

After dinner, the Casino Lounge hosted the final karaoke session of the cruise. Having got up twice before, I chose not to sing this time, but Ann Taylor and I did our best to support tonight’s performers. There are some really talented singers on board, although the song choices are – by and large – really lousy. “Over The Rainbow”, even when sung well, is simply not a song that is going to energize the karaoke crowd. Oh well. I have already learned that some of our Brooklyn friends will be hosting a karaoke birthday party in a few weeks, and I look forward to seeing how that atmosphere compares. Tonight was also the final performance from the Ocean Princess singers and dancers, who presented a show with “Motor City” musical hits. I was glad to recognize many more of the songs than I had during the 50’s music trivia or the Dolly Parton performance from a few nights back. The Cabaret Lounge setup, which is a horseshoe around the stage, offers much closer seating than the traditional stage on the Disney ships. Definitely another perk of the small ship experience.

The last activity of the evening was a Newlyweds Game-style show, with three couples attempting to guess the responses that their spouses had provided to a series of – let’s say whimsical – questions. Unfortunately, Ann Taylor and I were not chosen to participate, which was probably for the best, as the contestants were plied with champagne and their answers grew more ridiculous with each round. Back in the room, we only have one more full day on the ship before we arrive in Sydney on Saturday morning. I had expected that we would turn the clocks back overnight tonight, but we will be gaining an hour over the final night instead. We are looking forward to making the most of our 24 hours in Sydney, and of our last 24 hours on the Ocean Princess. I expect that we will make it to at least one more trivia tomorrow, and the crew talent show in the afternoon should be a lot of fun. With our vacation starting to wind down, we are sad that it has to end, but both looking forward to getting back to our regular routines. As nice as it has been not to cook and clean for more than two weeks, I think that we are still a bit too young to get used to these early bird dinners every night.

After three days on land in New Zealand, it was time to return to the water, with three sea days before we arrive in Sydney. Thus far, the sea days have been a mixture of some really interesting activities – trivia, shows, lectures – and some that are entirely skippable – carpet bowling, bingo, and something called “fab abs”. Overall, we have found plenty to keep us occupied, even if that simply means sitting on our balcony and reading. I have already finished three books on our vacation, and I am well into my fourth. With seventeen hours in the air ahead of us, I am very glad that I filled my Kindle with library books before we left New York. With no early shore excursions, we appreciated the opportunity to sleep in, then grabbed our traditional buffet breakfast and wandered down to the Cabaret Lounge for our first activity of the day.

In the Lounge, we found the main restaurant maître d and executive chef hosting a cooking class, where they demonstrated how to prepare pasta with a spicy sauce, pan seared scallops, and black forest cake. Everything looked – and smelled! – quite good, and the pair of hosts had some pretty funny banter that kept things entertaining. I was most looking forward to the last part of the activity, when the restaurant staff took us on a tour of the galley. I had participated in a galley tour on a previous cruise with Disney, and I find the behind-the-scenes activities to be very interesting, especially on longer cruises. On the Ocean Princess, the gallery is actually comprised of two levels, with a staircase for going down, and an escalator to take you back up. We saw the areas for preparing baked goods, sandwiches, vegetables, meats, fish, beverages, etc., and we were happy to see Chester, our assistant waiter in the main restaurant, showing guests around. After more than two weeks on the ship, we have grown very fond of many of the crew members.

Today’s specialty lunch in the Panoramic Buffet was Mexican, which sounded better than its execution. Unlike California or Texas, New York is not known for its Mexican food, but we do have a few local spots in Brooklyn that we quite enjoy. This buffet was a little soggy and underwhelming. Oh well. After giving our food some time to settle, Ann Taylor and I burned off some of the chips and guacamole in the gym, and then took the early afternoon off to relax in the room. Later, we made our way back to the Cabaret Lounge, where we saw the Ocean Princess singers and dancers in another behind-the-scenes activity. They told us about the audition process, their contract length (six months!), learning their routines in Los Angeles, and all of the other cruise activities that they lead. Without another dedicated set of staff on the small ship, the Ocean Princess dancers are also responsible for running trivia, karaoke, and a host of other events around the ship. It sounds especially tiring, but most of the dancers are in their early 20s, so they have great energy levels.

After lunch was a miss, Ann Taylor and I were looking forward to dinner, and the main restaurant did not disappoint. They offered a strawberry sorbet to cleanse the palette between the appetizers and main course, and Ann Taylor enjoyed it so much that she politely asked for another four scoops for dessert! After this morning’s cooking course, I ordered – and thoroughly enjoyed – the seared scallops, and found the pine-orange sorbet to be a very refreshing dessert. We continued to catch up with the Canadian couple at our table, and it is strange to think that we will only share a few more dinners before we each head our separate ways. They will be spending another two weeks in Hawaii after the cruise, while Ann Taylor and I will need to return to the real world. We still have another three decades or so before we will be able to take multi-month vacations.

Speaking of Canadians, this evening’s performer was a comedian from Toronto, and he was easily the funniest comic that we have seen on the ship. Again, the bar for “funniest comic” has been rather low, but we both laughed out loud at a few of his jokes. Half of our entertainment continues to be watching the reaction of the audience. I also realized tonight that between the Disney Cruise comedians, who aim for a younger crowd, and the Ocean Princess comedians, who aim much older, I have yet to be part of the target audience for a cruise ship comedian. Perhaps I should take better advantage of the comedians in New York when we return home. With tonight’s trivia focused on sharks – yes, seriously – and no karaoke, we made our way back to the room and set our clocks backward one hour for the overnight time zone change. We will do the same overnight from tomorrow to Friday, as we reach local time in Sydney, which is currently nine hours behind (or fifteen hours ahead) of New York. It will certainly take some time to readjust when we return home, but we are very appreciative of the relaxation offered by three sea days, which are very much helping to keep us well-rested for that transition.

On our third – and final – day in New Zealand, we stopped at the North Island port of Tauranga. This was the stop that I was most excited about, as Tauranga is only an hour or so away from Hobbiton, where The Shire scenes from the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies were filmed. Across all six movies, filming actually took place across New Zealand forests, mountains, rivers, and fields; however, Hobbiton is generally considered to be the spiritual home of the outdoor scenes. Naturally, most of the inside filming and digital effects occurred near Wellington. I am a huge fan of the books and movies, having even taken a course in the philosophy of Tolkien in college, and then seeing a musical version of Lord of the Rings in London’s West End during a business trip in 2007. In April, I will be taking my youngest sister to see Return of the King at Radio City Music Hall, with the soundtrack performed by a live orchestra. So, yes, I was incredibly excited for today’s excursion.

We awoke in Tauranga to a beautiful day, with sunny skies and temperatures hovering around 80 degrees. After breakfast, we met our tour guide and driver, Robin, who was incredibly welcoming and informative as he took us out to Hobbiton. Robin had difficulty understanding why so many people would travel to New Zealand to see the film sites, but he appreciated the influx of tourism that has followed. It feels a bit monotonous to continue to describe the New Zealand countryside as beautiful, but the rolling green hills and lush forests certainly fit that description. I think that Ann Taylor got a kick out of my excitement as we passed a sign for the Hobbiton Movie Set Tourist Farm. We had been booked for the 11:30am tour, but there were a couple of seats left on the 11:00am tour, and I was glad to be able to hop right on the green Hobbiton bus. Each bus is named for one of the Middle-Earth characters, and I was practically giddy as we left the ticketing area for the ten-minute ride to the film site. Judging by the faces of the other passengers on the bus, I was far from the only excited guest.

Arriving at The Shire, the Hobbiton tour guide explained that the original set – which was build in the middle of a working sheep farm – was largely dismantled after the Lord of the Rings trilogy filming wrapped. When Peter Jackson returned to film The Hobbit trilogy, the owners of the land agreed, with the condition that the sets were made of permanent materials so that they could be turned into an attraction for tourists later. Filming The Shire scenes for The Hobbit took only twelve days, but the set has been maintained incredibly well. While some of the surrounding fields had browned over the Summer months, The Shire is water three times each day, so the grass was just as green as it appears in the films. Over two hours, the Hobbiton tour guide took us around the forty or so Hobbit homes that had been constructed, noting that some homes or trees that took days or weeks to construct only appeared in the films for a few seconds. We were allowed to take photos throughout the set, although we could not go into the Hobbit homes, as they were all facades that were only built two or three meters into the hills. Facsimiles of various sizes were rebuild in Wellington for scenes that spanned inside and outside.

I was especially excited to see Bag End, home of Bilbo and Frodo, and to have my picture taken in front of the famous green door. We walked down onto the field where Bilbo’s birthday party was filmed, and posed under the Party Tree. I loved learning some of the behind-the-scenes stories, and it was really incredible to walk through so many areas that I remembered from the books and the films. After exploring The Shire, we were offered a drink at The Green Dragon Inn, where I tried a special ale that is only available at The Hobbiton set (or in the gift shop, of course). We took our last pictures, and then boarded the bus (Kili, I believe) back to the ticketing area. At the café, we had a surprisingly tasty lunch with salad, grilled chicken, rice, and meatballs. Then, we explored the gift shop (of course), where I picked up a souvenir shot glass and a postcard for my sister. They had maps, shirts, and other trinkets that would have been fun to take back if we had more room in our suitcases, or in our apartment. The memories and photographs are souvenirs that I will treasure for a long, long time.

Having spent the afternoon at Hobbiton, it was time to return back again to the port and the ship. On the way, Robin showed us a lovely park where he and his grandchildren spend time on the weekends. When we arrived in Tauranga, I used my last few New Zealand Dollars to treat Ann Taylor to an ice cream cone – we had heard about New Zealand ice cream all week – after she had been so nice to spend one of her vacation days to indulge my inner nerd. After a short walk along the beach, we returned to the ship for the last time, as we spend the next three days at sea. We once again passed on the late afternoon trivia, electing to catch up on a nap – and Facebook – before dinner. Tonight, Ann Taylor and I both ordered a shrimp and scallops dish with potatoes, which was alright, but not one of our favorites. Dessert was much better, a sorbet flavored with limoncello from Sorrento, where Ann Taylor and I had also enjoyed limoncello during the first week of our Italian honeymoon. The Canadian couple that we dine with had also purchased a small sheep stuffed animal to help Baby Shaw remember its first trip to New Zealand.

Tonight’s evening entertainment was a performer in the style of Dolly Parton. Not really my cup of tea, but I toured the Lord of the Rings set this morning, so it hardly mattered to me as she crooned Islands in the Stream with a Kenny Rogers ventriloquist doll. Seriously. With a few sea days ahead of us, we called it a night early and passed on any of the other nighttime entertainment options. Our personal navigator has some interesting options for our first sea day tomorrow, including a tour of the galley and an opportunity to meet the show cast, who we have grown to know over the past couple of weeks. It is hard to believe that it was two weeks ago that we started making our way to Tahiti for the start of our cruise, and even harder to imagine that the end of our vacation is also rapidly approaching. We have enjoyed every day so far so much, and we are absolutely looking forward to making the most of the days ahead, starting with a good night’s rest.

Having left New York nearly two weeks ago, it was incredibly nice to wake up with our ship just a stone’s throw from downtown Auckland. Tall buildings again! The cruise terminal is part of the downtown harbor, so there is no need to tender or take a vehicle to access the heart of Auckland. On TripAdvisor, I had found a highly regarded day tour that explored much of the center of the North Island, from Auckland to the west coast. We had another earlier start – for being on vacation, anyway – and, after a quick breakfast at the buffet, made our way off the ship to meet our tour guide, Stu. At both of the New Zealand ports, the authorities have been very clear that consumable food items must remain on the ship, and security was noticeably more present than in the Polynesian Islands. Nonetheless, we did not have any issues, and there was enough food on the tour that anything that we brought with us would likely have gone uneaten anyway.

Off the ship, we met Stu and another couple from British Columbia, who had also signed up for the tour. After a half-hour drive, during which Stu provided background on Auckland and New Zealand, we arrived at the Arataki Visitor Center, overlooking at Waitakere Ranges Regional Park. As a sub-tropical rain forest, the park offered a blend of warm- and cold-weather sights, smells, and sounds. We learned more about the possum pest problem in New Zealand, and Stu was kind enough to show a taxidermied version to accompany his explanation. It must have been our minds playing tricks, but we were all sure that the bag was moving before the stuffed creature was unveiled. Stu also explained that many Eastern Europeans had moved to the area to harvest gum from the Kauri trees that we had also seen in Puketi Forest. When the market for Kauri gum dried up, the harvesters stayed in New Zealand and started growing grapes; thus, the New Zealand wine industry was born.

After that explanation, our next stop was, naturally, a wine tasting, although Ann Taylor could only listen to the descriptions of each of the nine varieties that we tasted. There are limits to the amount of wine or champagne that one can bring back onto the ship, and it can also be a pain to carry bottles of wine through airport security, but we took a business card and a picture of the nine bottles so that we could find them again in Brooklyn. Approaching mid-day, our next stop was for lunch, at a local spot that also farms bees for honey used in their dishes and sold in their small shop. I enjoyed the lamb and a local red ale, while Ann Taylor tried the market fish (unfortunately, I do not remember the specific type) and a glass of very fresh orange juice. We also learned that Stu had inherited his sheep farm – an afternoon stop – from his father, who was given the land in recognition of his service during the first World War (Stu was a late child). I found that the local stories were even more interesting than the history of New Zealand, and Stu had plenty of tales to tell.

We reached the west coast and Muriwai Beach in the early afternoon. The beach is home to a colony of Gannet birds, which nest locally until their young are old enough to fly to Australia. The Tasmanian Sea was much rougher than the Pacific Ocean, and I am hopeful that we do not experience similar waves on our three day voyage from New Zealand to Australia later this week. We spent a bit of time walking along the black sand beach, then we piled back into the van for the short drive to Stu’s working sheep farm and homestead. At the farm, we met Stu’s wife, Donna, who took the lead on our afternoon tour. She shared pictures that showed how their house and farm had grown over the past century, and showed artifacts that had been discovered from an early 20th century logging settlement.

Returning outside, we made our way to a sheep pen in their front yard, where we were given bread to feed the sheep. Donna said that the sheep treat the bread like we treat chocolate, and the sheep were quite excited for the treat. I think that Ann Taylor did a much better job of feeding the sheep, as I had trouble getting past one particularly aggressive critter. After the sheep were hopped up on white bread, Stu introduced their sheep dog, Roy Roy, who demonstrated his herding prowess by collecting the sheep into a corner of the pen. It was really quite impressive! Donna then showed us around the rest of their yard, with various domestic and imported fruit trees, including a Kiwi fruit plant. Stu and Donna take pride in offering carbon-neutral tours, and they plant a tree in honor of each group. We selected a number to tag our tree, and they will be sharing the GPS coordinates after it is planted so that we can find it again using Google Maps.

A short walk led us to a separate pen, where Donna keeps their blind sheep, Pepe, who acted more like a dog than a sheep. Inside the sheep shack, we learned how Stu and his team sheer their sheep, which happens once each year. Selling the wool barely covers the cost of the sheep shearer, but they need to sheer the sheep so that the wool does not become overgrown and matted, which would depress the sheep and cause their wool to fall out in uneven clumps. The picture was not pretty. We met a couple of Australian parrots in another area of the farm, and a blind magpie that Donna has raised for the past twenty years. The bird cannot feed itself, so Donna needs to provide it a mix of turkey, vitamins, and feathers (!) four times a day, from sunrise to sunset, to simulate the food that it would catch in the wild. I thought that was an incredible commitment to sign up for, but then realized that we will become parents later this year, and that babies eat even more often than that. At least we will not need to feed our child bird feathers.

Back inside, we enjoyed an afternoon snack of cheese, homemade preserves, lamb meatballs – not from their farm – and sweet potato. It was all very tasty, but the highlight was the Pavlova dessert, adorned with a small New Zealand flag. It was a light meringue with cream and Kiwi fruit, and definitely a recipe that I will be adding to our Summer collection. Having experienced a wonderful visit to the farm and homestead, we bid farewell to Donna and hopped back into the van for the ride back to the ship. Upon our return to Auckland, we split from Stu and the Canadian couple and walked around downtown for a little while. It was surprisingly nice to see crosswalks and coffee shops! We found a nice view of the Auckland Sky Tower, but, unfortunately, did not see anyone bungee jumping from the top. By this time, we needed to make our way back to the ship to ensure that we were not left behind. As it were, we were too late for our dinner seating, so we enjoyed dinner from the Panoramic Buffet, which offered amazing views as we pulled away from Auckland.

After dinner, the evening performance was a comedic mind-reader in the Cabaret Lounge. While his mind-reading was decent, he was definitely the funniest comic that we have seen on the cruise. It is also possible that our expectations for cruise line entertainment are too high, with the bar set by previous Disney cruises. The bigger highlight of the night was the extended evening karaoke. After our first karaoke experience, many of the other guests have come up to us and introduced themselves around the ship. Apparently I had made an impression, as one woman remarked that my performance had made her husband comfortable enough to submit his own song later that night. So glad that I could lower the bar for everyone. Nevertheless, we have made a lot of friends on the ship, and it was a lot of fun to sing Springsteen’s “Glory Days” to the crowd. Later, Ann Taylor also braved the stage and sang “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” to a very impressed audience! It was very different than renting a small karaoke room with our friends in Manhattan, but still quite fun. With a long day behind us, we are retiring shortly so that we have plenty of energy for the excursion that I am most excited for: a trip to the Hobbiton movie set!

After three days at sea, it felt great to step off of the boat and onto dry New Zealand land for the first time. Of our three stops in New Zealand, Bay of Islands is the port that I was least familiar with, and the only stop where we elected to take a ship shore excursion. Whenever possible, I like to explore new areas by foot; however, as we discovered in Moorea and Bora Bora, that is not always the best option. In Bay of Islands, many of the top attractions are naturally focused on the sea, but our ship docked too late in the morning to take advantage of the more private excursions (e.g., to the Hole in the Rock, one of Bay of Islands’ most popular spots). Of the ship excursions, I was immediately drawn to a half-day tour of the Kawati Glow Worm Caves and the Puketi Forest.

Bay of Islands is the last port where we need to tender from the ship, so we meet our tour group at the lounge after breakfast, and then took the tender to our awaiting coach bus. The driver was a descendant of the native Maori who met the British explorers during the early 19th century, and he provided great commentary throughout the tour. Our first stop was to Kerikeri, home of the oldest wooden building and the oldest stone building from the original settlement. The drive took us past countryside straight of a magazine, with green rolling hills covered in sheep, cows, horses, and the occasional alpaca or emu. I would have liked to stop and take a picture of the scenery, although I think that the other guests on the tour preferred our brief stop at the public toilets.

After another short drive, we arrived at Puketi Forest, which is famed for its massive kauri trees. There is an elevated walkway through the forest, and a local guide provided a very informative 45-minute narration. We learned that the trees, which are as wide and tall as many of California’s redwoods, are centuries old, with some of the oldest trees dating back nearly two thousand years! There are also regular night walks through the forest, when the insects and other critters are much more visible. I think that Ann Taylor was happy enough to use (or not use) her imagination during the daytime tour. The clouds and light breeze threatened rain while we were at Puketi Forest, but we were fortunate to stay dry. It was a very different climate than the Polynesian Islands that we had previously visited on the cruise, and a nice reminder of the diversity of locations that we would be visiting.

Shortly after noon, we stopped at Kawakawa, a small town with a main strip that reminded me of Chatham in Cape Cod. We enjoyed a quick bite from a grab-and-go location – fruit and yoghurt for Ann Taylor, a steak pie for me – before boarding the bus for our last stop: the Kawiti Glow Worm Caves. We were unable to take any photographs inside of the caves, but that hardly detracted from the experience. The caves were dark and damp – of course – with limestone walls and stalactites and stalagmites (although I am still unsure which is which) lining the wooden walkway. When we arrived at the midpoint of the caves, the guides turned off the lanterns and we looked up at a virtual galaxy of glow worms. We learned that the worms use the light – in conjunction with a sticky web-like material – to trap other insects as food during their eleven months in worm form. After two weeks in a cocoon, they emerge with only three days to mate and lay eggs before they die. Quite a life.

At a second stop in the caves, the glow worms were closer, and their blue lights even more intense. We learned that the hungrier the worms are, the brighter their lights glow, and it seemed that many of the worms had not eaten in some time. We excited the caves to what was described as a “bush walk”, but more accurately a really nice hike through the forest, back to the bus. Certainly nothing that was too strenuous, but a nice reminder of some of the more adventurous hikes that Ann Taylor and I had taken in Kauai. Back on the bus, there was one last stop at a picturesque overlook of the Bay of Islands before we took the tender back to the ship. We had a little more than an hour to relax before a “smart casual” dinner in the main restaurant.

For dinner, I enjoyed the prime rib and orange soufflé, while Ann Taylor paired her “better than expected” steak fajitas with lime sorbet. Tonight’s after dinner entertainment was a comedic singer, whose songs ranged from pop to opera to one-man barbershop quartet. There were definitely some moments that were better than others, but overall he was pretty entertaining. We had planned to go the 50s music trivia immediately after the performance ended, but we arrived about halfway through the questions. This proved to be just fine, though, as even ten questions quickly illuminated that we know more about 70s music than 50s music, which still does not say much. Tomorrow, we visit Auckland, the largest city in Australia, and the first large city that we will have seen since our layover in Los Angeles. We are looking forward to continuing to explore the New Zealand countryside, and getting a taste of local life (and, hopefully, local cuisine).

Dan checking in! I will be capturing the memories from the second half of our South Pacific cruise, after Ann Taylor did such a lovely job of blogging the Polynesian Islands and our early sea days. Unfortunately, I am immediately faced with the task of recapping a slightly less busy – more relaxing? – day, as this was our first sea day without participating in any of the trivia sessions. Yes, after our successful 70s music trivia performance last night, we elected to take a day off and see what else the ship had to offer.

Having missed Captain Dale’s fourth presentation yesterday, we woke up earlier today so that we could be sure that we could attend. After our usual breakfast at the Panoramic Buffet, we made our way down to the Cabaret Lounge, which was especially crowded for the presentation on flight safety and accident investigation. I am not typically a nervous flyer, but I still found the talk to be incredibly interesting. Captain Dale had kept up-to-date with recent events, and was able to share his perspective on the Delta flight that slid off the runway at LaGuardia. I believe that there are three more presentations left for each of our three remaining sea days, and we will continue to learn as much as possible. The lectures have provided an educational aspect to the cruise experience that I have not previously found while cruising with Disney.

After the presentation, we went up to the pool deck, midship, to observe an ice carving demonstration. Unfortunately, we were far from the only guests that were interested in the ice carving, and after five minutes of ducking around other guests, we decided to head back to our room instead. One of my favorite parts of the vacation has been the opportunity to find extended times to read, rather than the smaller blocks that I am afforded during my morning and evening commutes. Ann Taylor and I both grabbed our Kindles and sat on the balcony for an hour or so. Last night, there had been rumors that the winds would pick up and the seas would become rougher; however, there was really no noticeable change today, and it was as relaxing as ever to sit outside and read.

The lunch buffet included Indian food that was surprisingly good for a cruise ship in the South Pacific, although underwhelming compared to what we can take out in Brooklyn. After a bit more time on the balcony, Ann Taylor and I both made an afternoon trip to the gym. Tonight was a formal night, so we also skipped the late afternoon trivia so that we would have time to get ready. Some of the guests rent or bring their own tuxedos and ballgowns, but we fit right in – and were likely more comfortable – with a suit and sundress, respectively. It has been nice to experience a bit of old school elegance with the formal nights, although I am usually glad to change into more casual clothing after dinner.

Dinner itself was as tasty as ever, with a few more upscale options in recognition of the formal night. I had a lobster tail and crab cake, while Ann Taylor swapped the lobster for two crab cakes. For dessert, we both enjoyed Jamaican coffee ice cream, which Ann Taylor augmented with chocolate marshmallow ice cream. It brought back fond memories of the coffee gelato that we enjoyed on our Italian honeymoon, and of the coffee ice cream that Ann Taylor had ordered a couple of years ago in Kauai. There was a special Captain’s Gala gathering for repeat cruisers – basically, almost 90% of the guests on the boat – which pushed back the after dinner entertainment until 8:30pm. Tonight featured another performance show, with the Ocean Princess singers and dancers representing many different dance styles. Although my youngest sister would have been disappointed that there was no West Coast swing dancing, it was impressive to watch the Irish step dancing performance on a moving ship.

With the late show time, lack of karaoke, and early shore excursion in the morning, we also passed on the movie trivia and went back to our room instead. Tomorrow, we will finally be back on land, as we arrive in Bay of Islands. This is our northernmost stop in New Zealand, and we will be visiting the Puketi Forest, home of massive kauri trees, and the Kawiti Glow-worm Caves. Yes, I convinced Ann Taylor to spend part of our South Pacific cruise looking at light-up bugs in a dark cave. It should be another memorable day!