Majestic Princess, Monday 28 January, Auckland NZ

There was a regatta on the harbour in Auckland so I time of arrival is 1.30pm which means we could have a leisurely start to the day, when don't we when we're on a cruise! Breakfast in the buffet and then a spot of golf. Morning tea on the back deck to watch us making our way closer to land and closer to our first NZ port.

It was a glorious morning and stayed to be a glorious day. I had organised the HoHo bus which also included a ferry trip to Devonport. I thought it'd be a good way to see more of Auckland than we can do just on foot.

Devonport - we'd be back here by ferry later in the evening

Sail in was lovely, we stayed out the back for the most part, had some lunch, watched the tugs help us in and then grabbed our bags and made our way off the ship and over to the HoHo bus. 

If we had of had more time we would have actually hopped on and hopped off the bus but as it was we just stayed on for the full two circuits. There are two HoHo bus circuits, one around the town and along the water and the other does the out suburbs, museum, gardens etc. We did see a lot and some of the things more than once as we did back track a bit due to there being a traffic jam near Kelly Tarlton aquarium. I was a public holiday plus two cruise ships were in, us and the Viking Orion, so the place was busy busy busy.

After making it back to the port we found where the ferry to Devonport left from and grab our tickets just in time to catch the next ferry, we just about the last people to board. Perfect timing.

The trip across is about 20 mins and a great way to see the harbour from a different perspective, much closer to the water than being on the Majestic that's for sure! Devonport is a lovely little town and again, if we had more time we could have explored a bit more but that's the thing with cruising you have a limited time in each place so need to try and make the most of it. I think we did.

Upstairs on the Ho Ho bus

Auckland museum

Devonport

Devonport main street

Back to Auckland on the ferry and we decided we'd go and find the pub we had seen earlier with happy hour from 5-7pm. The ship wasn't leaving until 9.30pm so no rush to get back on board. While having our first happy hour drink one of the cruises from Port Mac was also there and came over to give us a great tip. He suggested getting a couple of bottles of wine to bring back on board (seeing as the wine on the ship is so expensive). They've done lots of Princess cruises and say they always do it and have never had a problem. Great tip Kev, it worked a treat :-) So after another glass of NZ sav blanc we headed off in search of a supermarket (they sell alcohol unlike in Australia) to get out wine. There wasn't one too far away so we made our selection and then back to the ship for a sailaway drink on our balcony! This is the life.

Auckland Bridge

The Auckland bridge had a fabulous light display as we were leaving, probably part of their day's celebration but a great send off for us. Next stop Tauranga!