Fresh out of dry dock and the first of the Sydney to New Zealand trips of the season, the Jewel looks great. Gone are the tacky plastic palm trees, ugly carpet, and funky colors. The ship looks modern, instead of the late 90s/early 2000s wacky theme.

Embarkation was easy. Since we were coming from the US and our flight landed pretty early, we were worried the baggage collection wouldn't be up yet. However, we got there around 9am and they were collecting luggage. We dropped our bags off (note that you can't drop off anything with alcohol in it and would have to carry it around all day), and spent most of the day exploring Sydney. Don't forget the sunscreen; we got pretty burned after just a few hours. There's plenty to do, see, buy, and eat around the port. Getting to the port is an easy subway/train ride from the airport to Circular Quay station, and maybe a 1/4 mile walk to the ship. There was a lot of people boarding but it went quickly. Our room was ready around 2pm and our luggage was delivered by 4pm. We watched the ship sail out of Sydney (it's beautiful, don't miss it), ate a small early dinner at the buffet, and went to bed early, as we were exhausted from the long flight and time zone difference.

After the 2 sea days, we arrived in Auckland in the midst of a huge thunderstorm. The storm cleared up however, and we explored Auckland. The rest of the ports were easy, with the exception of Akaroa which used tenders. The tenders process was a complete mess and frustrating. The early tenders were all reserved for NCL excursions. We were told to wait until we were ready to get off the ship before collecting a ticket with a group number. Once we got our ticket, it took an hour and 20 minutes before our group number was called, then another 25 minutes to get to the port. We almost missed our private shore excursion that was scheduled for noon. Read more