Not Enough Time to do Auckland Justice

Day 49, South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Cruise

Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022; Auckland, North Island, New Zealand.

The original itinerary for this cruise had us spending a day in Auckland before going to the Bay of Islands, making a smooth northerly transit up the coast of New Zealand’s North Island. But a month or so out, Holland America announced a swap in dates for Auckland and the Bay of Islands. We would go north, then backtrack to Auckland, before going back around the north end of New Zealand to head back to Sydney.

Our captain tried to get into Auckland yesterday when Bay of Islands was canceled. But apparently the cruise terminal had been booked for a private event so we wouldn’t be able to dock.

Because it is much farther back to Sydney from Auckland than from Bay of Islands, we only had the morning – and a Sunday morning at that — in Auckland. It is a shame, because there are many places to see that either weren’t open or were too far to get to and back before our 12:30 p.m. all aboard call.

I wandered around the familiar streets around the central Princes Pier, sketching some of the early Christmas decorations.

I always enjoy harbors, and I watched one of the America’s Cup yachts with its tall mast sailing out with tourists. I did that excursion years ago in Saint Maartin and it’s a fun experience.

When the New Zealand Maritime Museum opened at 10 a.m., I decided to tour it again. Not much had changed in five years, but it does a great job of telling the stories of the first Polynesians to come to New Zealand, the European explorers who followed and the ensuing waves of immigrants from Europe and Asia.

Another whole section is dedicated to sailing (after all, Auckland is the City of Sails), and prominently the America’s Cup. New Zealand first won the cup in 1995, and again in 2000, 2017 and 2021. I could have spent hours studying the boats and history in the museum. But with our early departure, I headed back to be on the ship by noon. A sudden rainstorm canceled what we hoped would be a fun sail away party on the Lido deck.

For the past few days, the captain has provided the daily numbers of new Covid cases instead of a total number in isolation. The new cases have gone up, by as many as nine a day, and by my calculation we have about 55 in isolation. Of course, that would be minus any recoveries. But because New Zealand requires a minimum of seven days in isolation (and the first day doesn’t count), I doubt there are any who have completed their isolations by testing negative on Day 8 or later.

The captain also said our two-day crossing of the Tasman Sea is likely to be rough, with waves as high as 15 feet. That may not make it easier to pack, but pack I must. I started by taking down the wall map where I had tracked our journey. The blue arrows indicate ports I missed, either because I was in covid isolation or because weather prevented the ship from stopping. Fortunately, I had previously visited four of the five missed ports.