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Published: June 14th 2017
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Geo: 37.7792, -122.42
Once we docked at the Auckland pier, we had to wait for clearance from the authority to disembark. It was fun sitting out on the balcony and watching us slowly move into the Auckland Harbor. I could see sailboats to the side.
There were 2 other ships that arrived just a head of us - probably our late arrival because of the 2 other luxury cruise lines. We were texting Dad at the same time as we were pulling it. I believe it was 2pm in the afternoon on Friday, and it was 9am on Saturday morning in Auckland.
As we filed out of the ship, collected our luggage and started to walk the line for the Taxi ride, a gentleman for the city of Auckland suggested that we take the SkyBus - Bus system with 1 stop that heads towards the airport.
Glenn and I talked about it and decided that we had enough time to do that. Glenn went to the Terminal building to purchase our tickets with credit card - since we didn't have New Zealand dollars. Two volunteers met us with our luggage and helped us maneuver across the street and over 1 city block.
The SkyBus took us
about 10 minutes from the port to a direct bus that went non-stop to the Auckland Airport. While on the SkyBus, it had wifi, so I was chatting with G'daddy a little bit. I was also looking outside the window to see Auckland, New Zealand.
We got off the NCL Star at 10am, and we boarded our flight to San Francisco at 2:30pm, that means I was in New Zealand for a total of 4.5 hours! It took me 30 days to spend 4,5 hours in the country that is on my Bucket List.
Once we got to the Auckland Airport, the Ticket Counter was not open for us to check our luggage, so Glenn and I took the elevator to the Food Court near the International Security Check point. Glenn handed me the credit card and told me to go do my "souvenir shopping". I went to a few stores and then finally spotted a souvenir spoon. I bought a spoon, several key chains and 1 magnet. Glenn in the mean time was charging up our cell phones and also stood in line at the McDonalds to get a meal for us. We enjoyed an Australian McDonalds.
Just after noon, we
went downstairs to check in. There was a long line. Glad we had eatten first. And as we stood in line we were able to talk to others that were on another cruise ship and they showed us pictures of what we missed. Thank you very much. There was one man and his son that were very negative about their previous UA experience.
We boarded the UA flight that was completely full. Glenn and I sat towards the back with another man sitting on the isle. I had put on my compression socks before we got off the NCL Star and settled in for flight. Although there was entertainment on the flight, I never watched a complete show. I started watching Mary Poppins and made through about 3/4 of it. I watched a few more movies, but they were not worth my time.
We did arrive in San Francisco about 30 minutes late. There was a HUGE, LONG line at immigration. And we missed our connecting flight from SFO - DEN - DFW.
It is what it is.
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