Well after roughly a year of planning, departure day has arrived. Thursday dawned fine and relatively calm after a very windy summer so far. All looks good, at least for departure day. Had a leisurely breakfast on the deck and as the car was already packed, took our time before driving down to Fiona's. As we approached the Harbour Bridge, there she was, Dawn Princess, our home for the next fortnight.
Our official boarding time was 1.00, but with the early arrival of the shuttle and lack of traffic, we were ship side just after 12.30. Fortunately check-in had opened and we were aboard in no time. Fiona & Richard have a balcony cabin adjoining ours and Benjamin & Madeline are just down a bit in an internal. Because Princess (& other lines) do not allow children to be in a cabin by themselves, officially Richard & Madeline are next to us and Fiona & Benjamin in the internal. So there is a fair amount of swapping of access cards going on.
We of course had lunch at the Horizon Court and the quality was very good. In fact there many things on this ship which are far superior to the Sun Princess, even though (or probably because) she is going to P&O in May, as the Pacific Explorer. Our balcony area has all been freshly painted and overall the ship looks good. Our cabin steward arranged to unlock the balcony partition between our staterooms, so we can sit outside together.
Auckland put on a brilliant day and after our mandatory safety drill, it was time to cast off and head north. We went up to Deck 11 aft and then 14 but were underwhelmed by the sailaway- there was none. The wind was cold but fortunately we also found the burger bar up there which we had never used before and Madeline was satisfied with at least 2 plates of chips. OK, Richard & I had some too. It was good to acquaint Madeline with a food source she can go to any time she wants. Subsequently she did, at Benjamin's biding I understand.
As it is only 150 miles up to Paihia, we travelled really slowly at around 11kts. That said, while I had anticipated passing by Algies Bay around 8.00, it was nearer 9.15 until we estimate that we did that. We were of course at dinner and the sun had set by then so nothing to see for us. Our Filipino waiters, Jeff & Fidel are great and really looked after Benjamin & Madeline. Fiona has been named Princess Fiona (from Shrek). The quality of the food is thankfully back to Princess standard. There was a deck party after dinner, where Vivian & Fiona danced away. Madeline was washing her hair and the "boys" just watched on. A lovely evening.
Apparently just over 400 passengers embarked in Auckland and we were surprised that there were a large number from both UK & USA who joined us Kiwis. Being a school holidays cruise, there are different dynamics to what we have previously experienced, with (obviously) children of all ages and generally a younger age group, with quite a few grandparents! Sadly though there are still a very large number of walkers - not just the elderly.
Friday dawned bright and clear, which was a blessing, as we are in the Bay of Islands and this is a tender port. We are tendering to Waitangi wharf and a shuttle runs to Paihia. Vivian was most disappointed that her planned Waka excursion had been cancelled through lack of bookings. So as we were just going to wander around, we opted to take a late tender at about 10.00. The downside was that the wind had got up a bit by then, so was a bit bumpy going over. We were very impressed with the shuttle service and we were in Paihia in no time. Just went through the local market set up to sell goods made entirely in Northland. They were very good quality and "reasonably" priced - no, did not buy anything though. Vivian was impressed with the stall selling Murano glass necklaces and yes, she did import from Venice!
Fiona and family wanted to go through Waitangi Treaty grounds, but we'd done that 4 or 5 years ago, so while they took the shuttle back, we walked the 3 or 4 kilometres back to the tender. Worked out well, as we pretty well immediately got a tender to the ship, whereas when they turned up half an hour later, there was a queue of about 500. Enjoyed a pizza for lunch (something we really missed on Sunday Princess). We sailed away on time at 4.00 and although almost immediately down came the clouds and a light drizzle. A bit of a pity as we didn't get to see the land up around the top. Looking at the land in BOI though, it seems that they could do with every drop.
We have a couple of sea days coming up and most of the passengers are looking forward to the rest as it has been full-on with port calls for them for the last week - something that we too can look forward to next week.
Photos - still haven't got this part sorted.
* about to sail out of Auckland
* arrival in Bay of Islands
* market time with Madeline & Fiona
* ship at anchor off Russell
* the elusive Waka?
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