Day 31 - Saturday Jan 28 Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland photos

position at 7:00 am: S35:15:04 latitude W176:41:06 longitude
(160 miles NW of Auckland, New Zealand, our next port later today)
temperature: 70F, 100% humidity, cloudy
distance since FLL: 11,570 miles

It is cloudy outside with no sun showing. The weather forecast for Auckland is 80% chance of showers. We are falling further behind with the swells and wind. We expect to pick up the pilot now at 2pm and first people ashore by 3pm.

Breakfast at LaVeranda just because Debbie has decided to take the only 2 exercise classes offered today. Morning stretch at 8:15am and Fusion Fitness (not for beginners) at 9:15. Compass Rose does not open until 8am so it is LaVeranda at 7:30am. No chocolate croissants, no strawberries, no bananas. Debbie orders a ham and cheese omelet. Clay eats pastries and fruit.

Fusion Fitness is a quick-paced combination of Pilates and Yoga. It is challenging mainly because of the motion of the ship. Jacquie (misspelled earlier because her name badge had Jackie, now she has got a new one) could not hold more classes because of the mandatory crew drill at 10:15am. After Debbie came back from classes and before lunch, we used the clippers we packed in shipped luggage to cut each other's hair out on the balcony! Thus saving $95 plus tips.

There was a pool deck steak and lobster grill but we stayed in and ate at Compass Rose. Soup and spaghetti for Debbie. Salad and a Gorgonzola burger on bagel for Clay. Rice pudding for Debbie and ice cream for Clay. We changed into our shore clothes and then went up to the pool grill for ice cream and cookies and to watch the sail-in to Auckland. We did pick up the pilot right around 2pm.
The hop-on/hop-off tourist bus stops running at 4pm, so no go. The museums close at 5pm, so we are hoping to get to the Auckland Museum, though all the Maori cultural performances will be long over. We hope to get there in time to see at least a good part of the the museum exhibits, though. Then to Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Experience in Auckland's converted sewage storage tanks on the outskirts of town. It is open until 8pm. Then back to the city center and the Sky Tower is open til midnight. But, frankly if it is still cloudy, raining or completely dark, we see no point in paying to go up there. Not sure if we will try to find a place to eat in Auckland or back to the ship. All aboard is 10:30pm and we sail at 11pm. Sadly, pretty much a lost first day in New Zealand.

Oops! Learned after arrival that Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Experience closes at 6pm, last entry at 5pm. We set foot on solid ground at 3:50pm and were among the first off. We were docked at 3:15pm. So, we were over 6 hours late arriving in Auckland. But, we did get to Antarctic Exp. to spend an hour or so, which was plenty. We were very sorry to miss the Auckland Museum, and Lionzone the Brewery Tour. But, we did go to the top of Sky Tower before sundown. Then back to the ship. Clay couldn't take much more walking in the 4 hours we were ashore. On the way back downhill to the ship from Sky Tower, Clay bought a Red Lion beer for the fridge and we got 2 ice cream cones. New Zealand is supposed to have world-famous ice cream. The #1 flavor is Hokey Pokey. It is vanilla ice cream with pieces of hard candy that taste like butterscotch mixed in it. It was very good. We are docked right next to a Hilton Hotel. You could toss something from ship's balcony to hotel balcony. Hope those people at the Hilton did not pay too much for that view room! Bet they were surprised!

Hope Clay's ankle swelling goes down by morning because tomorrow is to be a full day ashore. We have to walk 150 steps in the glowworm caves. I have no idea what RSSC did for people in Auckland who had booked 12-hour tours. Today was also the Virtuoso full-day tour. Our first choice of shore tours here was 12 hours. We are so glad now that we had planned instead to do our own thing here. Even though we still didn't get to do want we wanted here either. There was also an overnight excursion here. We saw a lot of people with their overnight suitcases waiting in the atrium to leave when we left the ship. Again, no idea how RSSC handles being 6 hours late for these big, pricy excursions.

We got into Compass Rose for dinner at 8:30pm. We ate light. The day turned out to be sunnier and warmer than forecast. That coupled with the high humidity made it a little uncomfortable out today. But, at least it did not rain. We rode a taxi and 2 buses today. The cab ride from Princes Wharf to Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Experience was $15NZ. Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Experience was $26NZ per person. The bus ride back was $3NZ per person. And the 2nd bus over to Sky Tower was a free ride on the red bus. Sky Tower was $21NZ per person to go all the way to the top level.The first bus driver welcomed us to his country and said that people here love Americans but loathe George W. Another local chimed in. We couldn't help but to agree with them. It was interesting.

Just as we were leaving the dock, Clay got to see the Southern Cross constellation for the first time rising over Auckland.

Auckland photos