Auckland

We've just arrived in Auckland, and I've found some free (but slow....) wi-fi. After 3 “sea days” it's nice to be on land. I'll post some more information with my impressions of cruising in due course, but for present purposes I'll merely record that the trip so far has been very smooth. Someone said that the Captain was reported to have said this was his 7^th crossing and the best he had had so far. Anyway, no complaints here.

Apparently on the previous trip there had been an outbreak of gastro (or whatever), so our slightly delayed boarding in Melbourne was due to the ship being disinfected. There are hand disinfection stations at the entry to all restaurants and until yesterday, you couldn't help yourself at the buffet (but there were plenty of staff on duty to serve you).

Original Auckland station - now apartments!

It didn't take long to settle into shipboard life but the inevitable fact is that cruising necessarily involves 2000 passengers (and over 900 crew) being together on a moving island, namely a cruise ship. Yes, there is a variety of things to do and places to be, but the range of options is finite

We're not going on any of the excursions, as these are expensive and the ship is right in the heart of town. Just the same, I propose to get on with looking around town rather than blogging!

Approaching Auckland