New Zealand Ports of Call.

[Johnkut]

We are stopping at the following Ports of Call in New Zealand. Bay of Island, Auckland, Napier, Wellington and Christchurch. We have tours in all of these ports. What I would like to know which of these ports can you walk into town, or take a taxi a short distance from the ship. TIA

[Muffinz]

In Auckland the ship will dock in downtown and you can easily walk around the CBD. Wellington the ship will probably dock near the big stadium and it's about a 10-15 minute walk into town.

 

Bay of Islands the ship will anchor out in the harbour and you'll be tendered into the wharf at Waitangi. You would need to take the shuttle bus down the road to get to the town of Paihia. Christchurch the ship will dock in the port of Lyttleton and you would need to take the shuttle bus to get into town, as Lyttleton is about 8kms from the city centre.

I'm not exactly sure where the ships dock in Napier, so I'm not sure how far from town it is

[Aus Traveller]

In Wellington passengers are not permitted to walk from the ship. You have to take the free shuttle bus to the centre of the CBD. Tour buses are allowed into the wharf area.

 

For Christchurch, the ship will dock in Lyttleton. You can either take the free shuttle bus the short distance into the middle of town (very very little to see) or go to Christchurch. This can either be on a tour, or you could catch a public bus from Lyttleton to Christchurch.

 

In Napier, the ships dock close to town, but (once again) it is a working port and you are not permitted to walk on the wharf (other than a limited area to reach buses etc). A free shuttle bus operates to the Tourist Info Centre in the middle of Napier.

 

In all these ports you need to have Government-issued photo ID. This can be your Passport or Driver's Licence. These are usually checked in Napier and also Port Chalmers (but the latter isn't relevant for you). If you don't have photo ID you won't be allowed back into the wharf area and have to wait until a Security Officer from the ship comes and identifies you.

[MicCanberra]

Auckland is the only one, the others have tenders and or shuttles. then you could walk.

[icat2000]

And not papercopies of Government issued ID. They about as useful as blowing your nose on it. I saw in Dunedin one couple be told that their paper copies were not legal documents and to provide some sort of other ID.

[Johnkut]

Thank you all for the great info.

[resordanis]

On 9/11/2024 at 6:08 AM, Johnkut said:

We are stopping at the following Ports of Call in New Zealand. Bay of Island, Auckland, Napier, Wellington and Christchurch. We have tours in all of these ports. What I would like to know which of these ports can you walk into town, or take a taxi a short distance from the ship. TIA

With Auckland it depends on the ship too. Ovation docks (or at least it did) at a container terminal and a shuttle takes you into the City.

[buchhalm]

On a side note:

Think twice about taking any food items, apart from bottles of water, off a ship in NZL.

Nowhere else in the world have we actually seen quarantine officers by the ports, checking passengers getting off the ships for food items.

The officers were unfailingly friendly and polite, but thorough. 

Especially in Bay of Islands. 

(There we actually witnessed more than one passenger being fined for taking fruit off the ship. All of those fined were arguing with the quarantine officers)

[boeckli]

1 hour ago, buchhalm said:

On a side note:

Think twice about taking any food items, apart from bottles of water, off a ship in NZL.

Nowhere else in the world have we actually seen quarantine officers by the ports, checking passengers getting off the ships for food items.

The officers were unfailingly friendly and polite, but thorough. 

Especially in Bay of Islands. 

(There we actually witnessed more than one passenger being fined for taking fruit off the ship. All of those fined were arguing with the quarantine officers)

 

I have also seen sniffer dogs (and resulting fines) in Tauranga as well. 

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, buchhalm said:

On a side note:

Think twice about taking any food items, apart from bottles of water, off a ship in NZL.

Nowhere else in the world have we actually seen quarantine officers by the ports, checking passengers getting off the ships for food items.

The officers were unfailingly friendly and polite, but thorough. 

Especially in Bay of Islands. 

(There we actually witnessed more than one passenger being fined for taking fruit off the ship. All of those fined were arguing with the quarantine officers)

According to NZ authorities, those passengers are a blight on their society.

[Jean C]

35 minutes ago, arxcards said:

According to NZ authorities, those passengers are a blight on their society.

It's respectful to observe local customs and bio security and not try to flout the country's rules. The passengers wouldn't have incurred a fine if they'd declared what they had, it would have just been confiscated.

 

It does amuse me though, you can take whole fruit to any outside seating area on the ship itself while it's in port and any nasties can fly off into the air and leave the ship that way 🍎 🍏 🍌 🍊 

Edited September 14 by Jean C

[possum52]

There will also be continual announcements reminding you not to take any food off the ship while you are waiting to disembark. 

[Ondine]

Years ago when we called into Stewart Island on Pacific Jewel there was one customs officer and he went through every passenger's bags getting off.  He was very chatty because they didn't get many cruise ships calling.  It too ages to get ashore.

 

I was told subsequently by staff on P&O that they didn't do hard boiled eggs for breakfast on port days because certain guests (from an extremely large country north of us - think Pandas) always took them ashore for lunch and I believe the ship also gets fined if they are caught.

[Over from NZ]

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

According to NZ authorities, those passengers are a blight on their society.

And they are..

[cruiseaholic78]

We always take Muesli/Granola bars with us when leaving the ship in case we get back late and get peckish.

They took away these as they had raisins in them which are of course dried grapes so fruit. Despite warnings on board this had never occurred to us.

Edited September 14 by cruiseaholic78

[robncruise]

I'm pretty sure you'll find that all the fruit in the buffet (Princess) anyway is all pre cut so it cannot be easily taken off the ship. In Asia the fruit is served whole.

[icat2000]

I remember lining up on a cruise ship to get off at NZ port and they brought the sniffer dogs on. And they stopped at one passenger (women) and said do you have fruit in your bag. Nooo she replies. Turns out she had an orange. Maybe she forgot or maybe she thought the dogs wasn't going to pick it up. Total time waster she was. 

[possum52]

16 hours ago, robncruise said:

I'm pretty sure you'll find that all the fruit in the buffet (Princess) anyway is all pre cut so it cannot be easily taken off the ship. In Asia the fruit is served whole.

No, we have often take whole fruit back to our cabin. In particular green apples when I have felt nauseous from motion sickness or bananas. 

[Jean C]

22 hours ago, Ondine said:

Years ago when we called into Stewart Island on Pacific Jewel there was one customs officer and he went through every passenger's bags getting off.  He was very chatty because they didn't get many cruise ships calling.  It too ages to get ashore.

 

I was told subsequently by staff on P&O that they didn't do hard boiled eggs for breakfast on port days because certain guests (from an extremely large country north of us - think Pandas) always took them ashore for lunch and I believe the ship also gets fined if they are caught.

To be fair, we were on a cruise to the Pacific Islands and an Aussie or Kiwi woman took a hard boiled egg ashore for her snack, even though announcements said not to, particularly eggs because of potential avian issues. Unfortunately she got away with it 😖

[Ondine]

It never ceases to amaze me how the message seems to fall on deaf ears.  Especially as people living in Australia and New Zealand know we have strong quarantine rules even between states.  Try taking something forbidden into Tasmania.

I hear people on board all the time discussing what they will take from the buffet to have for lunch ashore even though there are signs on every table and the loudspeaker is constantly announcing the ban on taking food ashore.

[ceeceeDee]

44 minutes ago, Ondine said:

It never ceases to amaze me how the message seems to fall on deaf ears.  Especially as people living in Australia and New Zealand know we have strong quarantine rules even between states.  Try taking something forbidden into Tasmania.

I hear people on board all the time discussing what they will take from the buffet to have for lunch ashore even though there are signs on every table and the loudspeaker is constantly announcing the ban on taking food ashore.

🙄😠 The old story 'the rules don't apply to me'. Quickly followed by 'Woe is me' or 'This is outrageous' when they get caught out.