Two Cruise Ships Berth in Wellington Harbour

Was in Wellington on Thursday, and as the taxi drove me round Oriental Bay, I couldn't help noticing a couple of cruise ships berthed in the harbour. Very dramatic.

This rough map shows where they were berthed. You can see the Westpac Stadium near the ships, and also some piles of containers. The Cruise ships are berthed in the main port area. Wellington is working on a more appropriate facility a little North of here, near the Cook Strait Ferry Terminal.

The point is - and the taxi driver confirmed this - that while cruise ships do not berth in downtown Wellington, the city still benefits. Cruise ship passengers all visit and enjoy downtown Wellington, and Wellington benefits from their spending and presence, without losing waterfront amenity, through it being transformed into a Cruise Ship parking place.

These two pedestrians are enjoying Wellington's waterfront, oblivious to the fact that two cruise ships are berthed close by. (You can just make out the superstructure of the Dawn Princess, behind the pile of containers, just behind the rescue helicopter.)

And these two guys - enjoying diving off Wellington's waterfront - are also oblivious to the fact Wellington is being visited by a couple of cruise ships. Their fun is not being affected by cruise ships berthed nearby. Thought they were being photographed by cruise ship passengers visiting Wellington. And this is the point: Wellington's downtown waterfront is a destination for people - including the cruise ship passengers. Wellington understands that it is critical to the success of its waterfront, that it be a people place - rather than a parking place for cars, superyachts, and cruise ships. These vehicles have their place - but it's not detracting from the amenity of the CBD waterfront.

Two Cruise Ships in Auckland Today

Tuesday 9th February, 2010. Here's the Dawn Princess berthed at Princes Wharf, Auckland. She's almost the biggest cruise ship that can safely berth here. She weighs about 77,000 tonnes, is 266 metres long, and her beam is 32 metres....

You can see here how she towers above the Hilton Hotel, and how her cabin dwellers can look straight across into the balconies and bedrooms of the Princes Wharf apartment owners!

Also on Tuesday 9th of February, Auckland was a Port of Call for P&O's Pacific Jewel. She had to berth at Queens Wharf. Pacific Jewel a little bit smaller than Dawn Princess. Pacific Jewel weighs in at 70,000 tonnes, is 245 metres long but has the same beam of 32 metres.

You can see both ships here. Clearly Dawn Princess has a few more stories of cabins than Pacific Jewel too! I caught the Devonport ferry at 4:00 in the afternoon. Usually a quiet crossing. This time it was packed with cruise ship visitors returning from their half day trip to Devonport. That's the main destination - believe it or not - for cruise ship passengers. Nothing much else to to do on Auckland's waterfront. That's what Queens Wharf and Quay Street and Britomart need to become. A destination. Not just a cruise ship terminal....

And here's a computer graphic of how big Queen Mary II is compared to Queens Wharf, and Auckland's waterfront to Princes Wharf. In fact she's too big to safely berth at either Queens Wharf or Princes Wharf. That's why she has to berth amongst a pile of containers at POAL's Ferguson or Bledisloe wharf. Queen Mary II weighs in at 150,000 tonnes (that's twice as heavy as Dawn Princess). And she's 345 metres long (nearly 80 metres longer than Dawn Princess). Her beam is 40 metres. She's a big, beautiful ship. It would be crazy for Auckland to spend $100 million on Queens Wharf building a cruise ship terminal - knowing that the Queen Mary II which is scheduled to visit Auckland regularly - would be too big to berth there.