The repositioning

Have you guessed where I’ve gone on my big adventure?

This was my view as I started typing this blog post …

DD and I have just crossed the Tasman Sea aboard an expedition ship called Le LaPerouse. We sailed from Hobart bound for Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand.

It is romantically described an “ocean voyage”, but is actually a “repositioning cruise”. These trips are offered at discounted prices when cruise lines need to relocate ships to a different region at the start or end of cruise seasons. The cruise lines are keen to fill their ships on these journeys – in our case Le Laperouse had been traversing the Kimberley and Queensland before heading to Hobart for a Christmas/New Year circumnavigation, then was moving to New Zealand.

Repositioning cruises are an opportunity to experience a cruise ship at a reduced price to decide if it’s to your liking. Around half the passengers on our cruise disembarked after the ocean voyage and headed home or went on a land-based trip in New Zealand.

In our case the cruise company – Ponant – had offered us the opportunity to spend five complimentary days at sea if we booked the following cruise that it was hosting around the South and North Islands of New Zealand.

DD wasn’t initially keen on the idea of five days in the middle of the ocean, but I talked him into the concept of having a “pre-holiday holiday” as a chance to unwind after an arduous year.

We flew into Hobart on January 1 without any flight delays or lost luggage, which I regard as something akin to a miracle these days.

Our boarding time was at 12pm on January 2 and we made our way down to the wharf, where Le Laperouse sat in the shadow of the ginormous Virgin Voyages Resilient Lady.

The Resilient Lady has capacity for 2770 passengers, Le Laperouse only sleeps around 180 passengers.

It was luxury all the way from the moment we stepped on Le Laperouse and were greeted with glasses of Charles Heidsieck champagne, then wandered to the outdoor grill for wild mushroom risotto and steak with bernaise sauce as more bubbles flowed.

There is also a fancy dining room on the ship, pictured below, that is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you prefer to be indoors.

Le Laperouse is an all-inclusive ship, with all meals and drinks included, plus a fully stocked mini-bar in your room for those moments when you fancy making your own gin and tonic. Mind you, there’s also free room service, so you can ask for your cocktails to be delivered to you in bed if you prefer!

We sailed down the Derwent River at 4pm, taking a dip in the heated plunge pool and admiring the spectacular scenery as we cruised past the heads and out into the open sea. It was a stunning way to spend an afternoon. Then we sat down to a four-course dinner in the swanky dining room at sunset, before retiring to our suite, which was bigger than our hotel room in Hobart.

It included a dressing room, separate toilet, shower and sink room and a sofa, alongside a king-sized bed. It also had a balcony, which didn’t get a huge amount of use as it only reached a top of around 11-12C each day by about mid-way through the voyage.

We spent our five days at sea doing not very much at all. We would rise in time for a 9am meditation or stretch class, have breakfast in the dining room, laze around drinking coffee, head to the grill for lunch and a few glasses of French wine, have an afternoon nap, visit one of the bars for a pre-dinner cocktail, head to the dining room or grill for dinner, then visit another bar for a post-dinner cocktail.

One of the bars is called the Blue Eye and it is positioned in the hull of the ship with two glass “eye” windows that look out on the sea roaring past. It’s quite hypnotic.

I took lots of books and planned to tap away at the computer during my days at sea, but I ended up doing not much at all other than gazing at the sea, drinking Champagne and sleeping.

However, I slept badly on the first two nights due to a heavy dragging, screeching sort of noise coming from our balcony at regular intervals. It was mildly annoying by day, but I became totally fixated on it by night. Merde!

I hate making a fuss so I didn’t mention it until after the second restless night. After we requested assistance, a parade of engineers came through the cabin, trying to work out what the hell it was. They eventually decided the whole balcony door would need to be dismantled and examined, so we were moved to a suite on the deck below with a solid steel rather than glass balcony, which was a bit disappointing from a visual perspective, but much quieter.

On our third night at sea, the luxury quotient went up a notch – we dressed up for welcome drinks with the Captain – cue even more Champagne – followed by a multiple-course dinner that included the most delicious duck dish as the main. I forgot to take a photo of the menu, so my recollections are a bit sketchy due to all the aforementioned Champagne.

The swell was pretty strong that night and I’d invested in high heels for the occasion, so much tottering was done even before I’d sipped my second glass of Champagne. But we did pose for cute selfies while seated …

Would I do another ocean crossing?

We enjoyed the opportunity to switch off and be pampered. The food and wine was generally excellent. We are not prone to seasickness, so the open seas didn’t bother us much, though other passengers struggled a little.

Entertainment was minimal and the duo that regularly serenaded passengers weren’t our speed. Fortunately my expectations had been low in that regard – I was there to relax and get some peace, not to party.

I also packed badly. My capsule wardrobe was more suited to a tropical adventure. The temperature on the crossing hovered below 15C most of the time and I’d packed lots of linen shorts.

I’d have enjoyed the crossing even more if there was better wifi. It was slow and limited to one device per passenger. Not ideal for someone hoping to catch up on work. For example, anything that required two-factor authentication to access from my computer was not possible because my phone was off line.

It was also very exciting to sight land for the first time on day four, Solander Island, which is described by the Museum of New Zealand as “a rugged, inhospitable lump of an island lying in the western approaches to Foveaux Strait. About 40 km south of Fiordland and 70 km north-west of Stewart Island.”

But we thought it was dazzling after spending so long at sea and took endless photos.

Our last day of the voyage was the most magical. We slept in past the 9.30am cut-off for breakfast, but fortunately there were rhum babas on a little plate in our room, which had been delivered the previous evening by our cabin attendant.

We lazed around in our cabin until it was time to wander out on deck for lunch, where I ordered my third steak with bernaise sauce for the voyage, teamed with frites, salad and Champagne as we watched the gorgeous New Zealand South Island’s coastline glide past.

The sky was gloriously blue and the sea was blissfully calm. A fellow passenger waved us over to the side of the ship to watch seals frolic beside the ship.

Later the Captain announced that a pod of minke whales were accompanying the ship and we raced onto deck to gaze in awe as they undulated through the glassy sea.

But the dazzling highlight of the day came after dinner as hundreds of tiny Hector dolphins surrounded the ship, leaping through the waves. It was so beautiful that I found myself crying with happiness, which sounds soppy, but it was truly special.