Insignia in Auckland, NZ today - 25 May 2015

Oceania Insignia arriving in to a wet,windy and cold Auckland, New Zealand this morning:

Kiwi_cruiser

Many thanks for the pix. Insignia was the first Oceania vessel on which we sailed - happy memories.

Thanks for the update and pics on the Insignia's location. Boarding her in August in Southampton-- far, far away from her current location.

Always interesting to think about the distances these ships travel. When I grow up, I want to be like Don & Betsy (Don being one of the resident "experts" to this board) and do a World Cruise. That way I can truly appreciate the distances travelled. :)

About a year from now, minus a few days (May 19) that will be us pulling into Auckland on Insignia...hope it's not so wet, windy and cold, though (brr).

I'm lazy. I'll let my countdown clock let me know how many days to Insignia.

We MAY leave some lobster for Southampton.

About a year from now, minus a few days (May 19) that will be us pulling into Auckland on Insignia...hope it's not so wet, windy and cold, though (brr).

Oh go up in the sky tower. (You do not have to bungy jump down but you could):eek: ) If you get lucky like we did in Feb. 2014 the day was glorious and you could see for miles and there were literally thousands of sailboats. One of my favorite memories from a month in NZ (12 day fjord cruise on luxury small ship (Oceanic Discoverer)and 2 weeks in land trip with a car for each island. So lucky to have spent that long in Wonderful New Zealand.

Oh go up in the sky tower...

Betsy goes up in towers, skyscrapers, climbs lighthouses, etc. I don't go above the second rung of a stepladder, and that only if I can hang on to something. I get weak in the knees watching someone on something high up on TV.

But, she won't fly in a small plane or helicopter, and I will -- go figure. It might have something to do with being more afraid to be hurt than of dieing. ..

Don, you should have been with us in 1982 when we were in Chichen Itza.

I have a height problem myself ... I was so pleased that I was having no problem climbing up the pyramid. I saw people around me collapsing in terror when they were half way up the first level and felt SO SUPERIOR.

I even went up to the next level.

Then when it came to come down I froze. I decided I would NEVER come down. Ever.

So I just sat down. The problem was that standing at the edge of the platform, I couldn't see the next step and I wasn't about to step down onto it.

Finally four men decided to help me. They got me turned around and we started down, and at that moment I was fine. But one of the gentlemen decided he needed to have his hand on my butt the whole way down ... his wife was not pleased ...

But I won't do that again!

Mura

Try Machu Picchu -- really really high! No handrails. No steps really and you creep around the corner with your feet barely half on the "path". My cousin swears she left a full set of fingernails on the ledge and promised God to never do anything like that again. YOU have been warned! But such a magnificent sight it was worth the physical work and the emotional terror to see it.

But at Machu Picchu you do NOT have to go to the edge of the ledge! We were just there last month and I avoided that ...

So Chichen Itza remains far more terrifying in my mind ...

Appologizing for hijacking this thread!

Mura

Oh go up in the sky tower. (You do not have to bungy jump down but you could):eek: ) If you get lucky like we did in Feb. 2014 the day was glorious and you could see for miles and there were literally thousands of sailboats. One of my favorite memories from a month in NZ (12 day fjord cruise on luxury small ship (Oceanic Discoverer)and 2 weeks in land trip with a car for each island. So lucky to have spent that long in Wonderful New Zealand.

We have travelled the world a fair bit and we think we are lucky to live in New Zealand and have all this nice scenery close to us but we are still exploring other countries :)

Here is a link to our Sky Tower which we can see from our house

https://www.skycityauckland.co.nz/attractions/

Machu Picchu is permanently off my bucket list because my heart won't take any elevation above around 8,000 ft., even on flat, solid terrain. We had to skip the North rim of the Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountain National Park and others.

We have travelled the world a fair bit and we think we are lucky to live in New Zealand and have all this nice scenery close to us but we are still exploring other countries :)

Here is a link to our Sky Tower which we can see from our house

https://www.skycityauckland.co.nz/attractions/

When I saw this picture on the Sky Tower site, my knees went all tingly and weak...

When I saw this picture on the Sky Tower site, my knees went all tingly and weak...

 

It is quite interesting watching people walk around on that glass floor

So I would presume we will not be seeing a photo of you standing on it next year? :D