Your Cruise Your Way Cruise Blog

Celebrity Cruises announced its plan to return to the Australia/New Zealand cruise region for next year and 2010 in a big way recently. This will mark the third season of Australia/New Zealand, Hawaii and South Pacific sailings for Celebrity. The cruise line will offer 14 sailings in the region, visiting a total of 33 ports in eight countries. Cruisers will be able to extend their vacation by booking a five-night pre- or post-voyage cruisetour in Australia. Celebrity’s 2009-10 Australia/New Zealand/Hawaii/South Pacific sailings opened for sale last Wednesday

Departing from Vancouver, British Columbia; Honolulu, Hawaii; Auckland, New Zealand; and Sydney, Australia, all of Celebrity’s 2009-10 Australia/New Zealand sailings are scheduled to take place on the 2,038-guest Celebrity Millennium, the same ship that will sail there later this year. The 2009-10 season also includes the brand’s only Hawaii departures.

The season’s highlights include:
• Calls at five ports new to Celebrity Cruises: Vila, Vanuatu; Apia, Samoa; Pago Pago, American Samoa; Noumea, New Caledonia; and Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand
• Itineraries ranging from 11 to 19 nights
• Ten Australia/New Zealand cruises ranging from 12 to 16 nights, sailing between Auckland and Sydney
• A special 16-night Christmas and New Year’s sailing from Auckland to Sydney, departing December 20, 2009, which includes Celebrity’s first passage through the Marlborough Sounds
• Overnight, in-port stays in Sydney or Melbourne on most sailings, including a two-night in-port stay at the start of the February 27, 2010 sailing
• A five-night pre- or post-voyage cruisetour option in Australia, including one night in Sydney, two nights in Ayers Rock, including a “Sounds of Silence” dinner and a tour of Olgas, and two nights in Port Douglas, including a Great Barrier Reef Cruise and Hartley’s Croc Adventure; the package includes deluxe hotel accommodations, all transfers, intra-Australia flights, breakfasts and several other meals, and is 100% escorted
• Two South Pacific sailings, both of which spend three days in French Polynesia’s Papeete, Moorea and Bora Bora
• A 19-night sailing from Sydney to Honolulu, featuring Celebrity’s first visits to Vila, Apia, Pago Pago and Noumea
• A 15-night repositioning cruise from Honolulu to Vancouver on April 9, 2010, that features visits to six Hawaiian ports, including an overnight, in-port stay in Lahaina, Maui, as well as visits to San Francisco, California, Seattle, Washington, and Victoria, British Columbia.

Celebrity Cruises’ 2009-10 Australia/New Zealand/Hawaii/South Pacific sailings 2/2 Guests can make the most of their experience by booking Celebrity’s shore excursions. These in-port experiences include offerings such as the following:

• Wine, Cheese and Oysters” in Hobart, Tasmania, where guests visit the Coal Valley Vineyard for a tasting and an informative session on oyster farming and tasting before traveling to Meadowbank Wines for a wine and cheese tasting
• “Sydney Bridgeclimb and The Rocks” in Sydney, where guests make a once-in-a-lifetime climb up Sydney Bridge and enjoy the view before visiting “The Rocks,” Sydney’s oldest village known for its pioneering settlers
• “Deluxe Tranz Alpine Tour” in Christchurch, New Zealand, where guests board the Tranz Alpine Express and experience views of mountain peaks, rain forests and gorges where traveling, with tea service, to the alpine village of Arthur’s Pass, the highest point on the road in the Southern Alps before enjoying lunch and traveling back through rich farmland and visiting several other attractions
• “Leading Wineries of Hawkes Bay” in Napier, New Zealand, which gives guests a tour through New Zealand’s leading wine-producing region, including visits at three wineries
• “Volcano, Lavender, Wine and Cheese Sensation” in Lahaina, which takes guests on an interactive adventure aboard a limo-van that visits Haleakala rater, Ali’I Kula Lavender Garden, Tedeschi Vineyards and Surfing Goat Dairy
• “Pearl Harbor VIP Military Base Tour” in Honolulu, which takes guests to the USS Arizona Memorial, Wheeler Field, the “Pineapple Pentagon,” Fort Shaffer, and the Home of the Brave Museum. Celebrity Cruises encourages cruise enthusiasts to visit www.celebritycruises.com for more information.