What a poor port - tenders instead of the Queens Wharf. Dumped some 1km from the Queen St / Britomart area. No public transport in that area (and Auckland public transport is damned expensive - $10 for a rechargeable card (no refunds) - and $18 for an all day pass. Auckland Council don't really care for this ship.

Buses were provided into the CBD (2 stops) - which made it easy to get around for the day. Maps were provided - Wellington knows how to treat tourists (unlike Auckland)

This was the first time is visited - 4600 visiting a very small town. Firstly, the tender times were swiftly changed upwards, our hopeful 30mins to get ready quickly was gone. The port supplied buses into the town. The town itself is very small - unless you are doing some sort of activity, you may find yourself back on the ship in no time (like us)

Ovation only had ONE gangway to move 4600 !! Get real !!! The port was busy with Ovation and MS Noordam in the same day - RCI need to get more gangways / entry-exit points available on the ship to allow people to quickly get off - and not just be lining up on board. The town itself is OK - plenty of shops - but invest in an all-day public bus ticket for 7.50 to get to see more.

What's there to say about Picton - catch the port bus into the small town, walk around for 15mins.. and you've seen it. Maps provided by locals was a great touch.

Sadly we encountered the worse weather for this port - cold, wet and very windy. Caught the public bus into Dunedin ($6 each way - compared to $U15 that RC wanted).