Gigantic luxury cruiser brings $1m in 11 hours

The biggest ship to visit New Zealand cruised majestically into the Bay of Islands yesterday for a $1 million spending spree in less than 12 hours.
The seven-month-old, 116,000tonne luxury megaliner, Sapphire Princess, dropped anchor in the Bay of Islands yesterday with a full complement of 2700 passengers and 1100 crew on board.
The Sapphire Princess is not only the largest ship to visit New Zealand - it is the largest moving object to come to the country.
The ship's captain, crew and passengers were welcomed with a powhiri at the Waitangi Treaty House grounds yesterday, before disembarking on what has been described as the biggest spending spree Northland has seen.
Passenger and crew spending, plus port fees, are expected to have injected around $1million into the local economy during her stay, from 7.30am until her departure for Auckland at 6pm.
A 12-night voyage between Auckland and Sydney starts from $2635 per person and goes up to $11,651 per person for the top suites.
At 290m long, 49m wide and towering 63m above the sea, the Sapphire Princess has just enough room for all the mod-cons a traveller on a luxurious liner might expect.
Far North District Council member Laurie Byers said the cruise ship's visit was a "marvellous" boon to the Bay of Islands area. "A million dollars a day is not to be sneezed at. That money gets spent locally," he said. "We've obviously got to go out and court them, and attract more tourist ships. And when they do come here, we've got to do something to entertain them - provide a real experience."
Cruise director Alastair Greener, who has the intimidating task of co-ordinating entertainment for all those on board, said the preconceived ideas of cruise liners being for wealthy American pensioners had changed vastly as travelling became more affordable. "We've got people from three to 83. It's not the old stuffy atmosphere any more. It's literally something for everybody," he said.
Facilities include five pools, eight spas, 13 bars, nine restaurants and two nightclubs, not to mention a mini-golf course, movie theatre, Internet cafe, and Japanese-inspired spa.
Nestled among the sumptuous sheen of polished wood, brass and marble, there's even a wedding chapel for those keen to relive their Love Boat fantasies and get married at sea by the captain.
With up to 20 different nationalities on each cruise, the staff is multicultural and multilingual, and currently features about eight New Zealanders, including a photographer, doctor, dancer and hotel staff.
The ship departed (maximum speed 40kmh) with a little piece of Northland, too - a carved doorway mantle representing the five sub-tribes of Ngapuhi.
FACTS AFLOAT:
The Sapphire Princess carries a floating population about the size of Kaikohe.
She is 116,000 tonnes or: 2.5 times the size of the Titanic. As heavy as 300 jumbo jets. As long as three rugby fields. 18 storeys high. and is home to: 2700 passengers. 1100 crew. 22,000 passengers in three months in Australasia.
who each day eat: 8300 eggs. 1200 slices of pizza. 2600kg of fruit. 1252 litres of ice cream.