Blog for Sunday 25th October 2026

Wow! I opened our curtains just before six o’clock and there we were slowly making our way into Auckland Harbor already!

I was amazed at the buildings – hotels and whatnots that are right on the docks – it was the Hilton Hotel that was the first one we glided past and there I could see people watching our ship moor.

This photo was taken of our ship slowly entering the docks in Auckland this morning.

Today dawned slightly overcast but not an unpleasant day at all, and it was still early in the day to decide what the weather was going to do.

 This is a photo of the Hilton Hotel – you can see the people watching us and the dining-room set up for breakfast on the ground floor for those staying there.

I had my Quiet Time and then at half past six I had ordered coffee to our cabin – ah, what luxury!

I continued my Quiet Time as I sipped my coffee, after I had given Ken his coffee in bed.

 I managed to get the Hilton Hotel sign in a photo and also Ken on our verandah watching our entry into Auckland Harbor.

Today I think we will have a really quiet day as most days we have been doing something and a nice quiet day in our beautiful cabin sounds like a wonderful idea to me!

Yahee! Tonight, we are having dinner in the Tuscan Restaurant – and we have not yet been there so that will be nice. Our dinner last night was in the Cosmopolitan Restaurant and it was lovely. In fact, we got to chatting to the couple alongside our table – a couple of ‘Ten Pound Poms’ who have lived in Australia for yonks. They were about our age, and we shared a lot of laughs.

Wow, our first little bit of rain so far on this cruise. Our little verandah was wet, but it is not cold thankfully.

We had already decided to have a quiet day just flopping around so the rain is good. At about midday we wandered down to Deck 4 to have a coffee and some sandwiches, and I also had a mini cheesecake slice with fruit! Yum! Ken even had a second coffee and more sandwiches, and we sat and watched the passing parade – one of my favourite things to do.

Ken on our verandah watching our entry into Auckland

The gang plank was up by 3.30pm this afternoon and then it was time to bid our farewells to Auckland. I really would like to come back to New Zealand and tour it properly not just the glimpses of it from the different harbors.

We waved another farewell to the little tugboat seeing us off – and again the tugboat circling around and around to say “Cheers!” to us as we sailed off into the blue yonder again.

Our wet verandah

I cannot believe that we are basically on our way home again. The time has simply flown by at the speed of light but I have loved every second of it. It has been a super-duper experience and I am amazed that I was ever nervous about being on the water at all!

Tonight we are off to dine in the Tuscan Restaurant, and then off to catch hopefully the early show.

The show tonight is called: “A Hot Summer Night’s Dream” – a light hearted journey with the Theatre Production Cast that fuses music with extraordinary acrobatics and a touch of Shakespeare! Sounds like fun to me!

What lesson did I learn today? To enjoy the quiet moments too.

What am I grateful for today? The rain falling here in Auckland.

My saying for today is …