February 1, 2026 Auckland, New Zealand

Today was a long day. Our flight to Vancouver departed Auckland airport at 8:30 p.m. (= Vancouver time on Jan. 31 11:30 p.m.; a 21 hour time difference) on time. We crossed four time zones as we flew over the Pacific Ocean.

In all, for the 42 days cruise, we had one excursion cancelled and notified in October; the Conflict Islands stop was cancelled in December, but we had the excursion refunded on the ship; both Phillip Island and Kangaroo Island in the first 14 days were cancelled excursions which were refunded. The next 14 days no excursions affected but the Townsville port was cancelled and an extra day in Cairns due to a future cancelled port. The final 14 days had two ports cancelled but we had excursions planned for them which were refunded. Our final bill was a refundable credit of over $1,100 USD. We received a complimentary dinner for two at the Canaletto specialty restaurant for our 90 minutes bobbing in a tender boat in the storm. Plus there was a $250 USD onboard credit for all the port cancellations AND the future credit of over $800 CAD each offered for the itinerary changes including losing the two Vanuatu ports and gaining two extra days in Fiji.

The dining room opened at 6:00 a.m. for breakfast. We were off the ship by 7:30 a.m. to collect our suitcases from the cruise terminal, then clear Customs before boarding a bus for some sightseeing of Auckland and a stop at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Auckland is known as the ‘City of Sails’, Auckland has two different bodies of water (Tasman Sea on the west and Pacific Ocean on the east) separated by only 0.90 miles of land and offers beautiful beaches, breathtaking scenery, and a temperate climate.

The sightseeing tour included 75 minutes at the Auckland Museum with a guide for part of it, showing us galleries on the three levels of the museum, which celebrates the building’s 100th anniversary in 2029. The museum overlooks Waitemata Harbour. During the initial drive we stopped at the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial on Bastion Point. The land nearby was the first, in the late 1970s, to be returned to the Māori people, since the government declared it surplus and was going to sell it until Māori claims were recognized. It is called Wheuna Rangatira (meaning independent land) and has a whare rūnanga (meeting house) which has been the heart of the community since 1991.

There was natural history galleries with taxidermy native birds including a kiwi bird. The top floor shows New Zealand's involvement in 19th century wars against the Maori people, plus both World Wars and Korea, and New Zealand’s contribution to United Nations peacekeeping missions. Also there was a simulation of how the explosion of a volcano might feel. People sat on chairs in a “house living room and watching TV”, the picture goes black and the floor starts to shake a few times over 30 seconds with each eruption. On a different screen you see a volcano erupting in the harbour causing the earthquake. It was a simulation of shaking somewhere between 5 and 6 on the Richter Scale. There were displays about the Pacific islands, many that we visited on this cruise. On the second level the emphasis was on the evolutionary story and New Zealand’s unique environment. There are no poisonous reptiles or other animals. The museum is located in the crater of an extinct volcano, the oldest one in the city.

Returning to the bus we drove past Mission Bay were our children swam when we were here 24 years ago. Then it was through the original part of Auckland with historic Victorian buildings in neighbourhoods like Ponsonby, Newmarket and Parnell Village and drove downhill on Franklin Road to view houses built in the 1940s on the tree lined street. There are many treed parks and sandy beaches in Auckland. We drove over the eight lane Harbour Bridge to North Auckland and then back before starting the 30 minute route to the airport including passing through a 4.5 kilometre tunnel that avoids city centre traffic.

At noon, we exited the bus at a special drop-off area for busses with a 200 meter covered walkway to the terminal. We found the Air New Zealand kiosk to obtain our luggage tag and boarding pass, then took our suitcases to the baggage drop. We each had 600 ml bottles of water to finish before finding the security line. It took about 20 minutes in total to proceed through the screening. You did not need to remove gels, aerosols, liquids or electronics from your carry-on. We had to show our boarding pass and passport three different times even though at the start of the security area, we had our passport electrically read.

The departure area had lots of shops and coffee places, even a McDonalds. It was six hours since we had breakfast so we ordered a coffee and muffin each for less than $20 (about $15 Canadian). We walked around the terminal, then read Saturday’s newspaper on line, before going to the Strata lounge, which is a Dragon Pass associate airport lounge. We were able to arrange a four hour access privilege which would expire just as our plane started its boarding process. The lounge was quiet compared to the general airport departure area and overlooked the lobby to the gates. It had a separate Wi-Fi and restrooms. There was an electronic departure board that listed the status of flights for the next four hours. We had access to serve yourself beer, wine, cocktails, soft drinks and specialty coffees and a buffet of hot and cold entrees and desserts - all you can eat.

Step count as we boarded the plane was 10,539 for the New Zealand February first.

Boarding went smoothly for the Air New Zealand flight to Vancouver. We got settled in the Boeing 787-9 Sky Couch row with a window. This feature is unique to Air New Zealand. We had booked this row paying for our Economy seats and a bit more to have the Sky Couch feature that includes the three seats with a recliner feature. The leg rest extends to 60° for sitting then to 90° to create a 1.55 meter long and 74 centimetre wide surface for a flat sleeping area when the armrests are raised. To our delight the flight attendant asked us if one of us would like the empty Sky Couch row in front of us. We agreed to the luxury of a three seat row for each of us. When the couch configuration was arranged, by the flight attendant, a mattress pad was placed over the seats and we had three pillows and three blankets at our disposal. The recommended sleep position was head by the window rather than the aisle and bent knees so that feet were not hanging in the aisle. The movies and WI-Fi were complimentary.

Dinner was served within two hours of takeoff (about 10:15 pm Auckland time or 1:15 a.m. Vancouver time) The choice was hot chicken or beef with vegetables, a salad, bun and frozen ice cream and the usual assortment of beverages including wine and beer. Once trays were collected the cabin lights dimmed for the next eight hours. We managed six hours of interrupted sleep. There were a few occurrences of minor turbulence. Breakfast was served about two hours before landing. We easily unmade our Sky couch and stacked the pillows, etc. on an empty seat. The breakfast choice was chicken sausage, scrambled eggs (watery from a mix?), baked beans, cooked spinach with a muffin & butter, fruit salad and apricot yogurt, plus juice coffee or tea. The other choice was oatmeal and muesli with a muffin & butter, fruit salad and apricot yogurt, plus juice coffee or tea.

The plane landed at 12:15 p.m. in Vancouver in the rain. Due to gaining a day crossing the international date line, we arrived in Vancouver 8 hours before we left Auckland. The walk to collect the luggage took over ten minutes with a stop in the Nexus area of Customs and Immigration. We didn’t need to complete a declaration form. There was at least a 15 minute wait for the luggage carousel to deliver the luggage. We hoped that having dropped off the luggage more than eight hours before our flight in Auckland that we could get our bags in Vancouver - no problem. We went to the departures kiosk to get our Air Canada boarding pass and drop off our bags forbtheflight home. Going through security my backpack was detoured. I had forgot that I had filled my water bottle in Auckland so it was confiscated. We had less than three hours to wait. Our idea to go to Tim Hortons for an Iced Capp was dashed when we were told the the machine was broken. We ordered Frappuccinos at Starbucks. They were not as good as the frappés in the Library Café on the Noordam.

There was a ten minute delay for our flight home but we touched down on time just after 9 p.m. Our neighbour, Bill, picked us up at the airport and we were home by 10 p.m. This was our longest February first ever, almost 39 hours long, as we went to sleep. We had a bedtime snack of freshly popped pop corn.

Step count for the Canadian February first was 6,728 including Vancouver and home.