Cruising New Zealand on the Queen Mary 2

Our imaginations were on fire as we sailed out of Sydney Harbour bound for New Zealand on the incomparable Queen Mary 2. Captain Peter Philpott slowly steered the ship out to sea with the help of three tiny red tugboats as the sun’s golden rays bounced off the white tiles of the Sydney Opera House. This is one of the most memorable visual experiences you’ll ever witness.

The Grill Suites

Our glamorous stateroom was as ritzy as the Ritz. We were in the Grill Suites, which are limited to 192 passengers of the 2,620 on board. Our butler, who was on call 24/7, greeted us in our suite that included a sitting area, bar, bedroom, and a walk-in closet. The pièce de résistance was the generous expanse of windows and our private balcony that gave us a sea view from everywhere but the bathtub. It was all terribly POSH, which translates to Port Out Starboard Home, assuring that our cabin was always sunny.

At Sea

Our first day at sea comprised a postcard-perfect vista of endless blue skies, deep azure seas, and rolling whitecaps, which helped set the mood for the adventures that lay beyond the horizon. Spending a lazy morning lounging on a deck chair with a cup of tea followed by a yoga class then a Canyon Ranch massage is only a small taste of the dozens of experiences offered on the QM2’s Daily Programme.

There are as many as seven different choices of things to do every hour from 6 am to midnight — lectures, concerts, dance, fencing, wine and art classes. At night you can take in a full-scale theatrical show in the Royal Court Theatre like Broadway Rocks, Desperado or The Eagles show. Illuminations is the ship’s full-scale movie house that plays first-run feature films. We saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Thor: Ragnarok. You may want to go to the only planetarium on the high seas and see “Stars Over the Atlantic.” You can attend church services, gamble at the casino — or both. Additionally, Friends of Bill and LGBT pals meet daily.

Celebrity Speakers

There are celebrity experts speaking on a myriad of topics. We enjoyed a fascinating talk on “Presentation, Power, and Politics” by Nick Pisani, who had been an advisor to David Cameron when he was Prime Minister of England. On another day Jonathan Haslam, a counselor to Prime Minister John Major, spoke about the inner workings of 10 Downing Street.

The Astounding Fjords

Dawn was breaking when we sailed into New Zealand’s Fiordland National Park, the country’s largest natural wilderness. I watched from our balcony as the sun rose, sending swaths of gold and pink light over the fjords, flooded valleys carved by glaciers over 100,000 years ago. Rudyard Kipling described it as the eighth Wonder of the World, and rare species of birds once thought extinct have been discovered in the mountains.

Milford Sound

The entry to Milford Sound is so narrow you wonder how the massive ship, one of the world’s largest, can possibly pass through it. The geography is such that the rocks descend to the bottom of the ocean, as deep as 1,700 feet. Waterfalls cascade down cliffs into the sea. This spectacular landscape is one of only three such natural formations in the world. This is peaceful, scenic cruising at its best, with nature as the ultimate wonder. As the day ended, it was like waking from a dream as the ship headed back out to sea, leaving the fjords behind and moving on to our first port of call, Dunedin.

The Royal Albatross

We cruised into the port of Dunedin, past Taiaroa Head, the world’s only mainland breeding colony for the royal albatross, the largest seabird in existence. These majestic birds normally breed on remote islands well away from human view, but the Royal Albatross Centre is the only place where you can observe them courting, breeding, laying eggs, and raising their chicks. We saw dozens perched on the rocks while some took flight in a spontaneous air show. Lower on the cliffs were the breeding grounds with hundreds of babies.

Dunedin

The city of Dunedin was settled by Scots in the 1800s, flourished during a gold rush, and is home to the country’s oldest university. There is a lot to see and do in one day, but thanks to the Daily Programme, choices are listed menu-style. Once you’ve chosen your activities, your tour director and concierge will arrange all the sightseeing, transportation, and meals. Every detail is taken care of whenever you leave the ship … life made easy.

For a stylish tour of the region, Classic Jaguar Limousines provides a variety of guided excursions in elegant vintage Jaguar sedans. There are tours of the Edwardian architecture and all the major sites, including the spectacular Dunedin Railway Station, which is the most photographed building in New Zealand. The steepest street in the world is not in San Francisco; it’s Baldwin Street in Dunedin. Our Jag barely made it up and down.

Larnach Castle with its ghost, gossip tower, and unparalleled views was my favorite spot. Patriarch William Larnach, a banker and member of Parliament, led a colorful private life. His first wife died at 38 and he promptly married her younger, prettier sister. She also died at 38, of blood poisoning, and William married yet again. Wife number three had an affair with William’s son, and when he found out, he killed himself in the Chambers of Parliament in 1898. The castle’s ghost is said to be the first wife, perpetually upset about her husband’s betrayal with her own sister. She has been spotted opening and closing doors and floating around the castle. Sadly, not while I was there.

Port of Akaroa

Some of the best sightseeing on the QM2 can be done from your own balcony, or from any of the ship’s decks. The port of Akaroa is a perfect example as you pull into its charming harbor and spot a quaint fishing village that looks like it could be on the coast of Maine. Its year-round population is 567. By the way, the name akaroa is Maori for “long harbor,” and the port is surrounded by craggy volcanic hills.

Wellington

Our next port of call was Wellington, New Zealand’s capital and largest city. Once again, our tour director offered multiple choices and arranged everything perfectly. We opted for an ‘excursion to Zealandia, the world’s first urban eco-sanctuary, which aims to restore the land as closely as possible to its pre-human state. The groundbreaking project has reintroduced many species of native wildlife to the area, some of which had disappeared from mainland New Zealand more than 100 years ago. The program has laid out a 500-year plan to fully restore the habitat.

Dolphins Escort the Sail Away

One of the most memorable parts of each stop is the “sail away.” The sun was setting as the red pilot boat eased us out to sea, and suddenly a school of dolphins, a hundred strong, materialized beside the ship, diving in and out of the sparkling, sun-drenched, water like synchronized swimmers. It made our day.

The Hobbit Movie Set

The Hobbit movie set, where significant parts of The Lord of the Rings films were shot, has become a must-see attraction in New Zealand. The Shire, known as “Hobbiton,” is a village of hobbit holes dug into a hillside, surrounded by gardens, orchards, and pastures with grazing livestock. The site is located on a real working farm run by the Alexander family. The director Peter Jackson first spotted it and decided it was perfect for the magical setting of the Hobbit movies. The set took two years to build, and the level of detail is astonishing. Up to 200 plants surround each of the 44 hobbit holes, the “party tree” is over 250 feet tall, five miles of road were built, and the Green Dragon Inn brews traditional ales, cider, and ginger beer exclusively for Hobbiton. This was a fun and unexpected land day.

Port of Tauranga, Bay of Plenty

Tauranga is New Zealand’s fifth largest city, but when it first comes into view, with emerald green hills rising above turquoise waters, you’d think you were arriving at an uninhabited island. Settled by Maori in the 13th century, and later by Europeans, Tauranga boasts historic buildings, including the 1847 Elms Mission Station, a Georgian house built of logs. Mount Maunganui is a beach town with hot saltwater pools and an inactive volcano you can see via winding paths. Geysers spout columns of water and steam as high as 100 feet and erupt as many as 20 times a day. You can take boat and helicopter tours to a nearby active volcano on White Island.

Bay of Islands

Bay of Islands, a maritime park with 144 islands, is New Zealand’s most popular boating and fishing attraction, renowned worldwide for its big game fishing. Captain Cook named the area when he first visited in 1769. We booked a high-speed catamaran to explore eight of the islands, and the excursion proved to be a highlight of our trip. Piercy Island is a mountainous formation with a natural hole through it — literally pierced from thousands of years of sea pounding on its soft rock. Our speedboat zipped through the hole with a dramatic flourish.

Another island has a historic lighthouse, and we sailed past a large rock where several dozen seals basked in the sun, frolicked in the water, and caught fish for dinner. We also passed secluded coves, some empty, others with a single moored sailboat, and rock columns in the sea caused by earthquakes, a sort of Stonehenge in the ocean. This was easily my favorite day off the ship. As the QM2 pulled out of the bay, again dozens of dolphins playfully chased us, diving in and out for almost an hour. For nature lovers it doesn’t get any better.

Back to Sydney

On our last evening, the Captain hosted a cocktail party and there was a black-and-white masquerade ball with a big band. This was the last of four formal nights onboard, followed by a blissful day at sea, before arriving back in Sydney.

Disembarking with Ease

Even with more than 2,600 passengers, disembarking from the Queen Mary 2 is a breeze, especially if you’re in the Grill Suites. Our designated concierge, Beverly, guided about 30 of us off the ship to our luggage, color-coded in aqua and easily identified. Porters whisked the bags to our car and we headed to the airport for the flight to New York. It was a synchronized departure that took precisely ten minutes; a delight compared to the hassle at the airport.