In 2012, my ex-wife and I did a Princess cruise to New Zealand. Apparently it didn't work. Three and a half more years passed and I just had to do it again, and took along my housemate. We did the same trip, but in reverse order,so we hit Akaroa as the second port.
This was one tour we had actually planned. I'd contacted Dermot by email, and after we got a NZ sim card in Dunedin the day before I was even able to ring him that night because we could shoot a land based mobile tower from the ship.
We'd had overcast weather all the way across the Tasman, and the day before, but as we pulled into Akaroa, it was a magical blue sky day (one of only two, the whole fortnight of the cruise).
I got the front seat this time as Dermot saw my cameras attached. I was able to get some incredible photos of the trip.
This time we had a general visit of Christchurch, plus the route Dermot takes gives you a great insight of the surrounding countryside, including Lyttleton Harbour (where Dermot lives) from the heights of the volcano rim Akaroa Harbour is in.
We were not disappointed. Top notch tour, with an incredibly knowledgeable host. The comfort stop at Little River along the way provides an introduction to the rural areas around Christchurch, and is quaint and quiet.
In Christchurch itself we saw the very slow recovery after the earthquake nearly five years ago. There's still a "container city" of "temporary" shops in the heart of the city, which had moved slightly as permanent buildings were slowly being (re) built.
We saw a very moving memorial of 185 white chairs in a vacant lot; one for each person killed in Feb 2011. We saw the crumbling cathedral - which has less upright structures than what we saw in March 2012 which I could see by carefully analysing the photos from both trips.
Just a few notes - it's about 90km from Akaroa to Christchurch which takes a little less than two hours. Add half an hour for lunch and the return journey (via a slightly more direct route), and you're looking at well over four hours for the "mechanics" of the tour. It doesn't leave a huge amount of time for exploring Christchurch, as the ship is only in port for about 6-7 hours (varies).
We managed to get about half an hour to look over Akaroa before the tour departed, and so despite being there twice now, there's a LOT of this quaint little town I still haven't seen. So sorry Dermot, next time I do this cruise (will definitely be doing it) I reckon I'll spend the day in Akaroa.
Mind you, if you are in Akaroa, make sure that at one point you get yourself up to the rim of the volcano (there are several options - eg a London double decker bus tour, a motorbike trike thingy, or just a taxi) and look down over the harbour. It's a magical view.