Genting Dream Cruise – 7 days New Zealand Adventure III

It has been at least 5 years since my last cruise and I missed it! Last time, I travelled with my sisters and parents without children. This time, it is a whole lot different I’ll take you through it, but let me explain just a little bit about why we are going on a cruise…

So after getting married and having kids, I seldom get to travel with my parents or my sisters. My boys are bigger now at 3 and 5 and my parents adore them and have been wanting to travel with them for a while now. They sold their business last year for retirement and 2020 seems to be the best year for some travelling! Asher will still be on school holidays and I have just taken a week off the first week of work because it will be extremely quiet anyway. So I booked our cruise via House of Travel (HOT), which was not the best of experience. Basically, we were quite late to book a cruise that will set sail in 3 months (we booked on Oct 19), and we didn’t get much choice for room options. We were not able to get Balcony staterooms, only Oceanview Rooms which I am not too mad about (the fear of the kids climbing over the balcony freaks me out!). Anyway, I’ll take you through some facts about the ship, our itinerary and the things we packed.

About the Ship

Our ship is the Explorers Dream which joined the Dream Cruise fleet line in Spring 2019. The Dream Cruis fleet line is from Asia, so they have many destinations and itineraries around Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. The German-made vessel has 13 decks, 268m long and 13m wide, has 928 staterooms and can hold 1,856 passengers. There are a total of 9 restaurants and 5 cafes/dessert/snack bars all over the vessel, 3 bars/lounges, plenty of facilities like spa, hair salon, gym, shopping boutiques, kids club, etc. There are 7 different room options, but I think with the more luxurious rooms, you need to either book directly with the cruise liner or specifically with the travel agent?

Itinerary

Our itinerary is a round trip around New Zealand. We start at Auckland – Bay of Islands – Milford Sound* (travelling down along the west of NZ) – Doubtful Sound* – Dunedin – Wellington – Napier – Auckland.  *depicts scenic where we will not arrive at a port and get on-shore.

UPDATE: in the evening of the second day (Bay of Islands), the ship’s captain announced that they need to change the ship’s course, instead of travelling down the west coast, we will need to travel down the east coast due to weather issues (up to 8m swells along west coast). Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound will be cancelled. More about that from Day 2 below. We were compensated with AUD$100 credit per room.

Packing

Just going to briefly touch on what I’ve packed for me and my boys for these 7 days around New Zealand.

For clothes, I packed 2 sets swimming gears for the boys and 2 swimsuits for myself just in case we decide to go for a dip 2 days in a row. Swim rings, goggles, hats and jandals for all of us. I didn’t pack any towels because they are provided on the ship. I also packed about 7 days worth of clothes for the boys with an even mixture of long and short sleeve tops, shorts and pants, because even though it is summertime in January, going down South is always quite cold and windy. Inside the vessel, they will have air condition as well so that might be a bit too chilly for the boys. I packed a wind-breaker for both boys and a compact thermal vest each. They also have a pair of jandals each and they will wear their walking shoes to board the ship. 2 sets of pyjamas just in case they get it soiled.

For myself, I packed 2 flowy summer shorts, 2 long sleeves top, 2 light dresses, a beach coverup, a warm jacket and a shawl for when it gets cooler in the evening. Socks and underwear for each day, my PJs, some leggings, etc.

As for skincare, I packed some L’Occitane Cleansing oil in a small travel bottle, a travel size bottle of the Clarins milky cleanser (green), a Biologi Bd serum and my Shiseido sunscreen. I also packed a sample-sized Chanel eye gel and 2 sheet masks which I’m not sure I will get to use during the cruise anyway. I also bought my shampoo because I can’t use a shampoo with SLS.

For makeup, I picked my Clarins colour-correcting primer in green and the Skin Illusion foundation. I packed an old makeup sponge for application. I also packed the Clarins Blush 2 Go duo, my trusty mascara combo (pMel lash essence and Kevyn Aucoin Volume Mascara), a brow pencil, Hourglass concealer, Colourpop pressed powder, Chanel gel pencil eyeliner, etc. Other essentials like medications for me and my boys, band-aid, ointments, etc.

Electronics like my Dji Mobile 3, my iPhone, a power bank and my AirPods. I bought a charging unit that has 2 charging ports and a couple of cables.

Check-in process

When we got our tickets, we had different check-in times allocated to us. My boys and I are allocated for check-in between 5:15 pm – 6 pm and my parents were allocated 1:30 pm-2:45 pm. I was worried that we would have to check-in at different times and I won’t be able to help my parents out and that I need to drag our luggage and two kids by myself. Anyway, we were told we could check in together so that’s a relief.

Check-in was at Shed 10, Queens Wharf East. Hubby was there to send us off. We arrived at 2 pm, and the check-in process was easy. First, we checked in our luggage’s by showing them our room numbers outside the shed (we were able to wander around outside before checking in). We checked in, got our access cards and holder and was able to board the ship right away. Our luggage will be waiting for us outside our rooms.

Once we are inside the ship, we were offered welcome drinks and heaps of flyers for on-board offers. We sat down at the Grand Piazza right away to sort ourselves out. It took me a while to sort out the wifi onboard which needs to be purchased. There are 3 different options (see photo below). I went with the full cruise premium speed so I paid about AUD$143 for 7 full days. The wifi connection was pretty good, but when I’m in the bathroom, the connection gets pretty poor. I was able to facetime or video call my family in Auckland so that was nice.

Alright, let’s get to our rooms!

Our stateroom

We wanted to go for a Balcony Stateroom but they were all booked out so we ended up with Oceanview Staterooms. We couldn’t even get rooms close to each other. My parents were on deck 8 (rm 08028) and we were on deck 5 (rm 05030) and we are very close to the lift area. I guess we did not have many options because we booked so late for this cruise, most rooms and options were taken.  Which brings to the point that the person who booked our cruise in HOT wasn’t very helpful. She did not mention to us that we had little options despite knowing that I was travelling with kids and my parents and that we needed two rooms. She also rushed us to pay for the cruise in full to secure rooms which we did not even know if we could get rooms close together. Lesson learned I should’ve done a bit more research and book way ahead for something like this and maybe get quotes from other travel agents as well (my sister later learned that the cruise liner website still had plenty of balcony rooms available, but because HOT was only allocated a certain amount of rooms, they cannot upgrade us).

Our rooms were standard size hotel rooms I would say and we had 2 single beds, a Pullman bed and a sofa bed. There is a small desk with a table and a mirror, a little bar area with cups, tea and coffee, kettle facilities (we did not have a fridge for some reason, but my parents do). A wardrobe with plenty of hangers and modest shelf space. There were some drawers where the fridge should be. The bathroom is quite compact but the layout is quite thoughtful. Once you open the door, you are at the basin with a large mirror, to the left is the WC with obscured glass sliding door, on the right is the shower, also with sliding glass door.

There was surprisingly plenty of space for hanging stuff like bags, clothing, towels, etc. I spent some time unpacking our bags and I put each of our packing cells into drawers so that I don’t get them mixed up. There were 3 free bottles of water (replaced every day), black tea teabags, instant coffee sachets, sugar and creamer sachets. There were mugs and glasses to use and separate glasses for brushing your teeth.

Day 1 – Sunday

The day we embarked the ship was Sunday and we were scheduled to set sail at 9 pm up north and reach Russell, Bay of Islands by around 7 am the next day.

After heading into our rooms to lightening up our load and check if our checked-in luggage’s has arrived (which has arrived around 4 pm outside our staterooms), we went up to deck 12 to The Lido for a buffet-style Afternoon Tea (3 – 4 pm usually). There were cookies, cakes, fruits, savoury hot foods and unlimited coffee, tea and milk. The Lido Grill also does all day snacks from 10 – 10 pm.

After refuelling, we went back to our rooms to grab jackets for the kids because it was getting a little chilly in the late afternoon inside the ship. Around 5:45 pm, we headed up to level 6 for some dinner at the Pavilion which is Asian cuisine. There is a set menu for every meal and it’s different every day. There was soup, an appetite set, 4 main dishes with rice, a dessert, and fruits.

We finished dinner by 7 pm and we headed back to our rooms this I can bath my boys. I tried to keep them entertained and awake until 8:30 pm, mum joined us to the Zodiac Theatre for an acrobatic show. We left at around 9:15 pm because there was a section with masked men dancing and the kids got scared. Which is a good thing because we beat the crowd.

We got back to our rooms (the Dream Daily newsletter for the following day is slipped into the door for us every evening), had the boys brush their teeth and washed their face, got into their PJs and down for bed. I leave the bathroom lights on and the door ajar so the room is not pitch black. They have blackout curtains so it’s nice for daytime naps as well.

Day 2 – Monday

We arrived ahead of schedule and anchored the ship just outside the Paihia port at around 6:30 am. I did not sleep very well last night because I was worried about the boys and constantly worried about Asher wetting the bed. I fell asleep at around 11:30, woke up at 2 and 4, then finally at 6. I let the boys sleep until whenever they wake up which was 6:45 and 7.

We then had buffet breakfast at The Lido which was the usual continental breakfast. Then we let the kids watch a bit of Angry Birds Movie 2 at the Grand Piazza big screen for a bit and then we got on a tender boat to on on-shore. We needed to bring our room cards and photo ID.

We took a tendering boat (3 in total) to take us to the Te Point (near the Waitangi Treaty Grounds). We were told we didn’t need to get tendering boat tickets. We got on the boat at deck 3 by about 10 am and the ride to the dock took about 15 mins. There were at least 2 transfer shuttles organised by the cruise to take us to the city wharf where there is a nice market for handmade crafts, soaps and whatnots. We had a quick ice cream stop and just had a quick walk around the pier. We did not have much time before the kids need to head back for lunch and have a nap.

By the time we head back (free shuttle and tendering boat), the waves were getting stronger and some people had problems getting off the boat. We made it back safely without any issues, then head straight to buffet lunch at Lido and then back to our rooms.

After our nap, we hit the pools on deck 12. Oh my gosh, the water in the large pool was cold! Took me a little bit to get used to it and of course, my boys had swim rings because the shallowest end of the pool was 1.45m and goes down to 2.9m! There were 4 spa baths that had warm water so we stayed there for a bit. The slide was closed because of the strong wind, which leaves little to play around this area.

We left the pools for some afternoon tea by about 3:30 pm. Had some quick snacks at the Lido Grill and then headed back to our rooms for a quick shower and rest. We then head off to my parents’ room to drop the kids off so I can do some duty-free shopping.

The Dream Boutiques has a nice range of brands like SK-II, Filorga, Clarins, Dior, Sulwahsoo, History of Whoo, Origins, Clinique, Estée Lauder, Sisley, Laneige and Shiseido. There were heaps of fragrance brands as well. Makeup is quite limited to Dior and some Estée Lauder. There were clearance specials which I also picked up. They were able to do duty-free when you purchase on the ship after they set sail (that’s why the shops are opened at different times each day. Today they opened at 5 pm. I picked up a could of items including a travel exclusive set from Laneige which is a super great value!

We headed off to dinner at 6 pm at The Lido again and it was packed! It was hard to find any seats for 6 of us so we opted for outdoor seating. Food was alright and after that, we headed to the Zodiac Theatre for the Magic Show. Both my boys were terrified of going into the theatre again so we didn’t end up going. My parents went in and I took the boys back to our room.

This is pretty much the end of our day. I had a quick shower while the boys watched some TV, I then cleaned the kids up and sent them off to bed. They were asleep by 9:30 pm and I stayed up until 10:30 then I fell asleep too. Tonight, the sea is rouge and I felt significantly more swaying and motion. There were a few loud bangs which didn’t wake the kids up.

Day 3 – Tuesday

We were scheduled to be at sea for the entire day of Tuesday as the ship travels down South. At around 5 last evening, we received an announcement that due to the strong winds, there would be over 8m swells if we travel down along the west coast. So the captain decided, for our safety, to travel down along the East coast to reach Dunedin. Our itinerary across the Milford Sound and Doubtful sound has been cancelled. As a token of our inconvenience, they offered AUD$100 credit to each room for food/beverages, entertainment, excursions and spa/wellness.

Today I woke up early like usual, waited for the kids to get up which was around 7 and then we washed up, got changed and met my parents for buffet breakfast at The Lido on deck 12. After breakfast, we took the boys to The Little Dreamers Club on Deck 13 where they have sessions during the day you can put the kids down for 2-hours for free. I signed my boys up right away and they were happily playing there for 2 hrs while my parents and I chilled for a bit at the Palm Court Cafe. I then headed off to wander around the ship and picked up some souvenirs from the Candy Kingdom for hubby and work.

I returned to my room to just chill and relax then picked the boys up before 11:30. I decided to take them to the gaming room and spend that AUD$100 for them to play games. I sat down at one of the machines with Asher to play a short game and Ashton wandered off and I freaking lost him!! I searched all over deck 12 where the arcade area was and there was no sign of him, not even a crying kid looking for mum! I was furious and extremely worried. I asked my parents to help look for him but with no luck, I went to the main office and asked for help. Within 15 minutes, one of the staff came with Ashton and once she has explained to me how he was found, I burst into tears when I held him in my arms.

The thing that angered me the most was that he was not one bit scared or afraid of losing track of us. He was happily smiling and looking around at other interesting things. He is such a fearless brat! I took them both straight back to our rooms for a growl (mind you, Asher was really worried about his brother and stuck close to me the entire time we were looking for his little brother). I growled at him big time and my mum eventually came to our room and when she sat down and gave him a lecture, she cried too.

After that ordeal, it was already 12:30 and it’s time for some food. The Lido and The Pavilion was full so we had to go to Dream Dining a Room on deck 6 for set menu dining. Food was alright, better than the buffet stuff. We returned to our rooms at around 2 and it’s already passed nap time for Ashton. Mum looked after Ashton for his nap while she takes a bit of rest herself.

I took Asher out for more arcade games and by the time we got back, Ashton had just woke up. After dinner, mum was determined to take one for the boys to watch another production show: Voyage of a Lover’s Dream. We successfully took Ashton in for about 15 mins and he started crying and wanting to leave. Mum told me to stay and enjoy the show so I did, but left slightly early to beat the crowd. I picked the kids up after the show and took them back to our room and got them ready for bed.

Day 4 – Wednesday

Today we are still at sea, but by morning we were already passed Wellington! The sea was much calmer than the last 2 days, Asher and I didn’t need to take more pills or use the sea band anymore.

We didn’t do anything special today, I took Asher to the Parthenon Pool on deck 12 after lunch and enjoyed some spa time. We soaked for at least 45 mins and once we are done we enjoyed ice cream from the Gelateria (AUD$5 for 2 scoops).

We headed back to our rooms and Ashton was still napping (mum was looking after him). He woke up around 4 and we headed the Palm Court on deck 12 for some games of Jenga, cocktails and mocktails. Board games are available to borrow at The Zone for free (2hr). There were plenty of people there to read, chill, play card games, etc. we ordered a Fire Engine drink for the boys, a Virgin Strawberry Colada mocktail for myself and a mudslide cocktail for mum.

Around 5, we left for our rooms and just watched some cartoons. By 6:30, we were getting a bit hungry so we headed to deck 8 to collect my parents for some Japanese food at Umi Uma. There were teppanyaki options as well as a la carte and we opted for the latter. We ordered a Pork Belly Teishoku ($30), a Grilled Salmon Teishoku ($26), an Unagi Bento ($38), a Tempura Udon ($25), a Crispy Chicken side dish ($16) and a bottle of warm sake ($20 for 300ml).

I chose teriyaki sauce for the salmon because I knew Asher would love it and I planned to share with him. Ashton loves the udon and he finished the udon all by himself (not the tempura). Ashton also finished my chawanmushi as well as my dad’s. We were filled to the brim so I requested everyone to go for a walk before we head back to our rooms for rest.

The boys are terrified of the theatre so we couldn’t watch any of the night time shows, so most of the time we will sit around the Grand Piazza for some music or just plain walking around the arcade area. We returned to our rooms, got the kids cleaned up and we have some FaceTime time with daddy before we go to bed.

Day 5 – Thursday

Last night, both boys didn’t sleep very well as they twist and turned quite a lot and they both fell off their beds in the middle of the night. As usual, I had broken sleep waking up every 2 hours or so until 6 when I just got up to get myself ready for the day. We arrived at Port Chalmers, Dunedin by 6 and berthed by around 6:30.

Port Chalmers is about 20km from Dunedin Town Centre so we had to pay for shuttle transfer from Port Chalmers to Dunedin Town Centre (The Octagon). It was $19 pp return and you had to go to the Box Office on deck 7 to purchase. This was the only location we needed to pay for the shuttle bus service.

We had breakfast at The Lido again and we headed to shore. There was about a 30 min wait to get on the shuttle and we go to town centre in around 20 mins. We were dropped off at the Octagon and we visited the St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, then walked down Stuart street to the Railway Station.

Bought a 1kg bag of cherries for $10 from a local seller and we ate it all before getting back on the shuttle by 12. We had a light lunch at The Lido and then I took both kids to the spa pools for a dip. Dunedin was sunny but a little windy in the morning. It was pretty good weather for some pool-time. The boys had a blast and we went back to our rooms to relax and watch some TV.

To be honest. Going back to our rooms, I didn’t really have any chance to relax. The boys were loud and rowdy and they were running and jumping around even in such a tight space. They were able to invent games of their own and one minute they are laughing, next minute they are fighting and someone is crying. I really couldn’t stand it, but I’m a little worried about taking them out by myself as my parents need to rest.

By around 4, I took them out of the room and picked up some candy at the Candy Kingdom (Jelly Belly jelly beans, marshmallows, gummies, lemon tea lollies, etc.). They had a few Asian candies that I haven’t had in a while and I really liked! We then went over to the Dream Boutique to pick up a Swarovski bracelet for Ben’s mum’s birthday present in 2 weeks. They were doing 10% off.

We headed back to my mums’ room at around 5, and Ashton stayed while I took Asher back to our room and Asher and I both fell asleep. I woke up at 6, woke Asher up and we got my parents for some dinner.

Both the boys and I were knackered… I think I’m a little exhausted from the trip overall, but yeah, they both fell asleep before 9 and I think I will probably be sleeping by 10. It’s 9 pm and the sky outside still looks like 5 pm, thank God for black-out curtains! Pray to God that they won’t roll off the bed again! We will be at Wellington around 8:30 tomorrow! See ya!

Day 5 – Friday

We arrived at Aotea Quay, Wellington by about 7 and we got up and ready for breakfast at 8:30. After that, we packed our belongings and headed off to the Zodiac Theatre for an assembly to disembark the ship. There were heaps of people getting off at Wellington so they had to get us off in an orderly fashion.

By 10, we were on the shuttle bus and we got into town within 10 minutes. We got dropped off outside the Beehive and we walked along the Lambton Quay towards the Cable Car Station. There weren’t any queues so we hopped on and got up the hill.

We did a short walk into the botanic gardens until we reached the children’s playground and the kids played for a while. We head back to the cable car station for a ride back down. Then we walked to the pier for lunch. Dad chose Crab Shack and we had clams, garlic bread and 2 kids meals. Lunch was great!

After lunch, we had plenty of time so we walked along the wharf to Frank Kitts Park. I let the kids play for half an hour and we left. The weather was perfect but slightly too sunny for my parents. It was a nice place for the kids to play, there was a public toilet, grass area to sit down, and an ice cream shop.

We hopped back into our shuttle bus by around 2 and back to our rooms by 3. I got both kids to nap for about an hour then just let them play in the room for a while and we met up with my parents to have some dinner.

After dinner, dad heads back to his room for the rest of the night and mum and I took both boys to watch the World Class Variety Performance from the 8th deck mezzanine overlooking the Grand Piazza on deck 7. The boys were mesmerised by the performance and stayed the entire time without moving away.

The show ended at 7:45 and once we were in our rooms, the boys started re-enacting the moves those acrobatic performers did and they were pretty serious about it! They had so much fun. Then it’s time for bed and I fell asleep next to the boys as I tried to put them to sleep.

Day 6 – Saturday

This is our last stop at Napier and we arrived just before 6 and this morning both the boys woke up early but that’s ok. We got ready, had breakfast and was ready to head out as our shuttle bus ticket was for 9:15. For these shuttle bus time allocated, I don’t suppose they are super stringent, but I do see people going in much earlier and/or much later than what’s shown on the ticket.

We arrived at Napier town centre (iSite) by around 9:30 because it was a very short ride. Then we walked around the beach for a little bit then we walked down Emerson Street down to Clive Square which they were having a market day. The first stall we saw was selling peaches, nectarines, apricots, etc. OMG, the peaches were so big and juicy and sweet! The apricots and plums and nectarines too! If I could bring them back home, I would buy a few! We bought 2 yellow-flesh peaches and 3 white-flesh peaches. We devoured them right away and then we bought another 2 yellow-flesh peaches and finished it there and then!

Then we slowly head back to iSite for the shuttle bus, but before we did that, I went into Toy World and Cracker Jacks to look for Hot Wheels cars for Ben. After we got back at around noon, we had a quick lunch then back to our rooms for a nap.

Once we were back to our rooms, Asher wanted to use the bathroom and he told me the toilet smells really bad. I went in for a check and it was foul. I checked the WC and indeed the sewage flowed backwards up the pan and wouldn’t flush away after a few attempts. By this time, our entire room stank. I had to call housekeeping for someone to come right away and fix it (within 5mins). He managed to fix the water problem and then got some cleaning products to clean up the area. However, the smell lingered for a good 3-4 hours.

I quickly packed our big luggage up so that I prepare what the kids are going to wear tonight and tomorrow morning, etc. The disembarkation process is quite interesting in terms of the luggage arrangement. I will elaborate further down below. I have to pack my check-in luggage tonight, drag it out between 10 pm – 1 am for it to be collected and checked-out tomorrow morning. Which means I need to pack all our pyjamas and anything we need to use tonight and tomorrow morning in my bag.

After some quick packing, I got the kids napping by around 2:30 for about an hour or so. They woke up at around 4 and I got them out the door at around 5 and we headed to the mezzanine on deck 8 and check out what show was on at deck 7.

We had dinner at 6 and for the last day, they decorated the Lido dining lounge and also had ice cream for dessert. After dinner, mum decided she wanted to take a last chance dip in the spa pool with the kids. It was crazy windy, but the kids were stoked for another chance to swim. So they played for about half an hour and we left because it was simply too cold.

The boys fell asleep before 9:30 and the sky was dark already by around 9. I got all our luggage’s packed ready to be pushed out before the boys got into bed, hopefully, I won’t forget anything and I don’t need to get anything from the luggage! I pushed it out at around 11 and went back inside and sleep. Tonight, the moon shines so brightly through the window.

Day 7 – Sunday (disembarking)

We arrived back in Auckland (ah, home sweet home!) at 9. Weather was sunny, nice and warm, our allocated disembarking time is 11:15-11:30 for deck 5-4, and my parents are 10:45-11:00 for decks 8-6 (we were able to disembark together because I needed help from my parents). We could still have breakfast at The Lido, but most other places are closed like the arcade area.

We disembarked at the Princes Wharf and the checkout process was very quick, they didn’t even check if we have any food with us or anything. Didn’t check our bags or IDs, just swiped our card and let us go through (we get to keep out cards too). Once we are on the ground, we were able to collect our luggage which was grouped according to our deck levels. There were trolleys available for use as well, but you are unable to push it too far from the carpark area.

Overall

So overall we did about 6 days of cruising on this 7-day trip as it includes embarking and disembarking of the ship. It was a nice experience to go with the kids and my parents, despite being exhausted looking after the boys during this entire trip, I was really happy to enjoy time with my parents as well. Mum is especially thoughtful and let me enjoy some time out from the boys when she offered to look after them from time to time.

I think it would be at least another 10 years before I go on another cruise with the boys. It would be better when they are a little bit older and can appreciate some time-out, chilling around the pool area, they can sit down and have some quiet time to themselves and maybe go with their cousins? Next time, we will definitely visit the islands again!

I know I haven’t covered every single thing about this trip, but please drop me a message if you have any questions at all. Otherwise, check out my Instagram and ask me questions there. I should have a story highlight there for the cruise, you can see more photos and videos there! Thank you for reading!