More bad news. New Zealand’s north island, including Auckland, is in a state of emergency and all non essential travel is prohibited. This means our ship tour to the Rotoura has been cancelled and refunded plus our 3 days in Auckland could well be a complete washout as we may not be allowed off the ship due to safety and insurance issues and if we are, then Auckland may be a ghetto as everything is shut with everyone at home sheltering from the incoming cyclone. Getting really fed up of this trip and the decisions made by its captain. Sure we could have gone elsewhere (even the South Island) but Auckland is a big drop off and pick up stop with refuelling and food taken on so money probably talks but it does contradict the previous statements of safety before all else. Still, will thankfully be in Australia soon and well away from these decisions.
We skipped breakfast and did a quiz on dogs - we know next to nothing on this. Pam did more jigsaw puzzle work to feed her addiction with Lesley ( a fellow puzzler) whilst Mark rested and played cards with the other one of our quiz partners Chris. After a light lunch in cafe Vivvo ( Mark had a wrap and a slice of Victoria sponge, Pamela just had a large tuna mayo roll) we read and Pam did some hand washing. The rest of afternoon was spent playing cards with Chris again.
We will break here and go back to the ship tour. We have now finalised the inside of deck 3 but we wanted to show a bit more of the best bit of deck 3 and maybe the best bit of the whole ship - the outside Promenade. Not many ships have a promenade deck and those that do don’t usually have wide ones and sheltered ones. Some do have promenade decks but there are cabins that you are walking past which is awful for both those in the cabins and those walking pass. Cunard ships all have excellent promenade decks and as this was almost a Cunard ship, it makes sense which this aspect is so good. Here are some pics with descriptions.
Back to the evening. Tonight was black tie night (black and white theme), we had food in the Meridian again. Pam met some fellow puzzlers on our table. We had four courses again. Pam had the pork en croute as her main and Mark had the lamb and beef fillets. It was a delicious meal. After dinner we went to the Rising sun for a quiz about sport, which we did very badly at. After the quiz we went to the Variety show (which was a replacement to the original show scheduled - the artist was unwell). The show consisted of Corinne (Entertainment team) singing two songs, Jane (The Entertainment Deputy Manager) singing two songs and Dave (The Pulse music director) singing Neil Diamond songs. Plus the Arcadia Orchestra playing songs in between. The show was very enjoyable.
Then we did a spinnaker quiz on food and a syndicate quiz( we didn’t come last this time) before bed. Mark is getting up early tomorrow to watch the ship sail into Auckland though the ship is really moving now but at least it is only side to side and not up and down. It’s probably the worst we have witnessed onboard so not sure how well we will sleep tonight.
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