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Pet Cockatoo takes a Princess Cruise!

geocruiser

By geocruiser,
in Princess Cruises

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OzKiwiJJ Great Review Rare

OzKiwiJJ

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It was a great saga. It was all over the Aussie media the week it happened.

 

The two ships kept in contact with each other about Harri and a bottle of wine was delivered to the family from Harri with a note saying "hope you're having as much fun on Pacific Aria as I'm having on Sea Princess". :D

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Aus Traveller

Aus Traveller

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The gist of the story is correct, but not the details. (Shock, horror that the media would get it wrong!) Harri the pink and grey galah had been missing for four weeks when it was found on the top deck of the Sea Princess after two days at sea. The bird was secured in an empty officer's cabin near the Bridge. I doubt that the crew of the ship had the equipment to check if the bird had a microchip. I think it was likely to have been done when we reached our first port, Dunedin. At Dunedin a junior officer boarded the ship carrying the cage that is shown in the photos. We saw him in the lift with an empty cage that was obviously new. When I asked about a bird, he replied that they were not allowed to talk about it. I asked if the captain had two birds - a feathered bird and his wife (colloquially called a 'bird') who was also on board. Captain Lye went on leave during the cruise and was replaced by Commodore Romano who told the story of the wandering galah when he presented a talk in the Princess Theatre. NZ authorities (quite rightly) allowed the bird to remain on board provided it was secured at all times and that one officer was responsible for it. The family were NOT on the Pacific Aria when they were advised of Harri's whereabouts - they were due to leave on their cruise two days later. It was a very short cruise whereas the Sea Princess NZ cruise was 14 nights.

 

The whole episode was a great PR opportunity for the company.:D

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geocruiser

geocruiser

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The gist of the story is correct, but not the details. (Shock, horror that the media would get it wrong!) Harri the pink and grey galah had been missing for four weeks when it was found on the top deck of the Sea Princess after two days at sea. The bird was secured in an empty officer's cabin near the Bridge. I doubt that the crew of the ship had the equipment to check if the bird had a microchip. I think it was likely to have been done when we reached our first port, Dunedin. At Dunedin a junior officer boarded the ship carrying the cage that is shown in the photos. We saw him in the lift with an empty cage that was obviously new. When I asked about a bird, he replied that they were not allowed to talk about it. I asked if the captain had two birds - a feathered bird and his wife (colloquially called a 'bird') who was also on board. Captain Lye went on leave during the cruise and was replaced by Commodore Romano who told the story of the wandering galah when he presented a talk in the Princess Theatre. NZ authorities (quite rightly) allowed the bird to remain on board provided it was secured at all times and that one officer was responsible for it. The family were NOT on the Pacific Aria when they were advised of Harri's whereabouts - they were due to leave on their cruise two days later. It was a very short cruise whereas the Sea Princess NZ cruise was 14 nights.

 

The whole episode was a great PR opportunity for the company.:D

Very interesting. Where did you info come from?

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namowal

namowal

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My parrot is getting ideas now!

 

 

I have a cockatiel (small cockatoo) and we often joke about how ill-suited he'd be for cruise life: Squawking, stomping through buffet trays, getting into squabbles with people as to whether or not their things, in fact, belonged to him, etc. No way he'd last 14 days. His relative overseas must have better manners.

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JoyMouse

JoyMouse

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I have a cockatiel (small cockatoo) and we often joke about how ill-suited he'd be for cruise life: Squawking, stomping through buffet trays, getting into squabbles with people as to whether or not their things, in fact, belonged to him, etc. No way he'd last 14 days. His relative overseas must have better manners.

 

 

I had to send your post to my mom and sister. That is so funny!

 

I had a cockatiel that passed away at the ripe old age of 20. I can just picture him squabbling with people if they tried to take something away from him and trying to whistle like the ship’s bells.

 

The brown headed parrot would just try to bite the cabin attendant if they came near her with a cleaning cloth. She’s small but packs a powerful punch.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Aus Traveller

Aus Traveller

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It sounded like a great cruise. Were the ports good? How was the food?

After leaving Sydney we sailed into the fiords on the SW coast of the South Island - Milford (absolutely spectacular), then Thompson, Dusky and Doubtful Sounds (lovely). The ports were Dunedin (interesting), Akaroa (where the ships anchor in a volcanic caldera), Wellington (lots to see), Napier (1930s art deco town), Tauranga (used as a base to visit Rotorua or the Lord of the Rings film set) and Auckland (lovely). The food was good as it usually is on Princess. :D

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OzKiwiJJ Great Review Rare

OzKiwiJJ

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Galahs are considered the clowns of the cockatoo world, and in Aussie slang if you refer to someone as Galah, you're essentially saying that person is a fool, clown or idiot.

 

They are rather gorgeous though. Sometimes you can see a flock of them in bushland parks and reserves around Sydney.

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geocruiser

geocruiser

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After leaving Sydney we sailed into the fiords on the SW coast of the South Island - Milford (absolutely spectacular), then Thompson, Dusky and Doubtful Sounds (lovely). The ports were Dunedin (interesting), Akaroa (where the ships anchor in a volcanic caldera), Wellington (lots to see), Napier (1930s art deco town), Tauranga (used as a base to visit Rotorua or the Lord of the Rings film set) and Auckland (lovely). The food was good as it usually is on Princess. :D

WOW! what a cruise. I would love to do that some day. Thanks for the info.

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namowal

namowal

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I had to send your post to my mom and sister. That is so funny!

 

I had a cockatiel that passed away at the ripe old age of 20. I can just picture him squabbling with people if they tried to take something away from him and trying to whistle like the ship’s bells.

 

 

Yep. The first cockatiel who stows away on a cruise ship will also be the last.

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