Giant Gem Floats into Auckland

January 16, 2007

Giant Gem Floats into Auckland

The title holder of the largest cruise ship to visit Auckland, Sapphire Princess, arrives in the Waitemata Harbour on Tuesday (Jan. 23) for the first of five visits this summer.

The 116,000-ton megaliner docks at about 6am and sets sail for Tauranga at 6pm.

Sapphire Princess carries 2700 passengers and 1100 crew – the equivalent of 11 jumbo jets.

Sapphire Princess arrives in Auckland from Tauranga, Christchurch, Dunedin, Milford Sound, Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney, on the first of eight 12-night cruises between Sydney and Auckland and vice versa.

The Princess Cruises ship visits Auckland again on February 16, March 12 and April 5 and 25 before returning to the United States for an Alaskan season.

More than two-and-a-half times bigger than the Titanic, Sapphire Princess stretches 63 metres tall and almost 49 metres wide, including her bridge wing. Sapphire Princess is 20 metres too tall to pass under the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

The ship’s visit to Auckland will inject more than $500,000 into the local economy through passenger and crew spending, stores and port fees.

Sporting a space-age bridge and jet-engine-style pods on her funnel, Sapphire Princess has a revolutionary dual diesel and gas propulsion system that makes her one of the world’s most environmentally-friendly liners.

Launched in 2004, the ship also has five pools, 10 restaurants and cafes, a wedding chapel, a mini golf course, 13 bars and lounges, two nightclubs including one overhanging the ship, a luxury spa sanctuary and 1337 cabins – 750 of them with their own private balcony.

The Princess Cruises line became a household name around the world when the hit ‘Love Boat’ TV show was filmed aboard Princess’ ships in the 1970s and 80s, sparking a cruise boom which continues today.

Cruise holidays now comprise the fastest growing sector of the travel industry, with the worldwide cruise industry worth $40 billion worldwide a year, according to the Cruise Lines International Association.

Sapphire Princess New Zealand visits 2007: Dunedin: 19 Jan, 27 Jan, 12 Feb, 20 Feb, 8 Mar, 16 Mar, 1 April, 9 April, 21 April Christchurch: 20 Jan, 26 Jan, 13 Feb, 19 Feb, 9 Mar, 15 Mar, 2 April, 8 April, 22 April Tauranga: 22 Jan, 24 Jan, 15 Feb, 17 Feb, 11 Mar, 13 Mar, 4 April, 6 April Auckland: 23 Jan, 16 Feb, 12 Mar, 5 April, 25 April Wellington: 23 April

ENDS

© Scoop Media