Southern Starboard – Auckland, Picton & Fiordland

About this cruise

This is the kind of cruise where you actually have time to go back to a port highlight you missed the first time. 14 nights from Sydney on January 16, 2027, visiting Bay of Islands, Auckland and Tauranga, with additional stops along the Australia & New Zealand. It starts gently with sea days, so by the time you reach the first port you'll have explored the ship and actually feel on holiday. Big cities, reef snorkelling, and New Zealand's green mountains. Genuinely varied. You get around 10 hours in each port, which is enough for an excursion, lunch, and some wandering around on your own. When you're not ashore, You won't go hungry on Royal Princess. 6 restaurants come with the fare, plus 5 more when you feel like treating yourself. Longer sailings have a different energy. People relax into it, stop rushing, and start actually talking to each other. While everyone else deals with the January cold, you'll be somewhere warmer. And floating. Hard to ask for much more than that, honestly.