Aurora trans-pacific

[spritealpine]

:confused:Off on Aurora 1-03-09 across the 'Great South Sea' (Capt. Cook) from Sydney to San Francisco. Any advice about the ship or highlights on the way (New Zealand, Tahiti, Honolulu)?

[Neilius]

I'll be with you on the ship till Auckland.

 

My favourite two spots on the ship are the Crows Nest bar, and the Terrace bar (not that I only go to bars :))

 

In Wellington, make sure you don't miss the cable car. You can get their via cab from the wharf. It might work out cheaper than the P&O shore tour.

 

In Auckland, the Museum is a must-see. It only costs $5 to get in.

 

There's a great Maori Performance and you can get to see a real live "haka" but you have to pay extra to see it. Well worth it if you've never seen a haka up close before. Allow at least 3 to 4 hours for the museum. It's a 20 minute taxi ride from the wharf.

 

The "Sky City" tower is another way to quickly see the city. It costs $25 to go to the top and the view is spectacular.

 

There's a double decker tourist bus that'll take you round Auckland for $25. You can get off anywhere including the Museum. So if you want to do a whirlwind tour and see everything, catch the bus instead of a taxi. You might save a bit on the taxi fare too.

 

Oh - one other thing. If you're lucky, when you sail out of Auckland, you might get to see one of the dancing tug boats. They sometime perform for ships as they leave. To see it, make sure you're standing at the back of the ship as you sail away, and see if the tug boat captain does a dance.

 

There's a video here. It was one of the highlights of my cruise :)

 

[spritealpine]

Thanks for the advice, looking forward already, 12 hours until we get on the Cathay Pacific 747 at Heathrow, quick change in Hong Kong and then it`s Aurora here we come.

 

Regards

Spritealpine

[Neilius]

I wrote to Auckland ports and said:

As luck would have it, I will be in Auckland aboard Aurora on 7 March next week.

 

When your tugs take her out on Saturday 7 March at 6pm, will they do the same dancing routine again?

 

If so, I'll tell people on board so they can watch from the rear deck of the ship. Most of the passengers will be English people doing the round the world cruise, and I'm sure it would be quite a spectacle for them.

 

They wrote back and said

Thanks for your email. Unfortunately one of our tugs is out of action and the other is in need of some urgent repairs (!) – so I think the team are going to be playing it safe over the next few weeks. Apologies –

 

So unfortunately it looks like Auckland harbour won't have dancing tug boats for a couple of weeks.