Sorry son, this isn't Farce. Farce is ten miles back up the road. You must have come through it to get here.

12 . 19 . 17 . 2 . 6

Bingo!! House!!
I got a line on this....
...1034 days to go...
and the Cosmic Lottery continues!

as for K'inich Janaab' Pakal – I think his nickname of Sun Shield may be very apt – especially if we get the kind…

I have just looked at my watch and it is now almost March, 2010

why am I not surprised yours tells time in months and years :)

My calendar is saying it is 12 . 19 . 17 . 2 . 6, among various other nomenclatures. Getting slightly more off-topic,…

[Paul] I think most people's first impression of NZ is being forced to wend their way through the duty free shop maze to get to immigration – "how tacky" may not be the impression we really want to make

I must confess that I find this aspect of AKL oddly…

If these passengers arrived by air they would pay a facilities charge at whatever airport they arrived at, is the cruise industry expecting to be treated differently from the Airlines?

Be interesting to hear Auckland Airport's view on massive taxpayer subsidies to the cruise industry

High five!

you guys make me feel.. talkative

I have just looked at my watch and it is now almost March, 2010

why am I not surprised yours tells time in months and years :)

Stephen, you just reached the 2000 post mark, and I broke 1000. High five!

As was discussed some time back, you deserve some kind of award. Maybe a Brownie badge?

On mature reflection, I am all for making a nicer cruise ship terminal. But: I also think about New York. JFK is a shithole. La Guardia is a pain in the butt. The ferry terminals are shitholes. Every transport option into Manhattan is scary for the uninitiated. But who cares?…

It will end when the first Eden Park RWC game is played, and all the punters without tickets get pissed withtheir mates at home or at their local, and those with tickets head to Kingsland after the game because they're already drunk and can't figure out…

Are people reluctant to come to NZ because the port facilities are inadequate? I'd actually like to know that.

I dunno. But I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility that less boats come if you don't provide them with decent facilities.

That being said, there's a constant stream…

We've got not much more than a year, true. But the Sohole is on dry ground which won't need reinforcing (and nobody will be able to drown there, at least not once the rain water is pumped out); it's in the middle of what is already a…

Well they built a hotel with little public space and no reason to go there. The…

In any case, it is not much of an option. The project started with that nice Mr Key wittering about Party…

Besides every dollar we spend on this thing is another hip replacement we can't afford right?

I thought we were after a hip replacement for the current mess?

"Party Central" ain't happening in any way, shape of form on Queens Wharf...

1) What do arriving cruise passengers pay per head to use the current terminal in a service charge? (excluding the costs for NZ customs/MAF/immigrations which…

Secondly, I don't see why, if the cruise ship industry feels better facilities are needed, it can't build and pay for them itself. Why does it need a public subsidy? Some NZ industries, like IT, manage fine without public handouts. Tourism (in particular) seems to be different.

Correct me if…

Also, didn't someone somewhere recently say that the bulk of cruise ship passengers are processed by NZ immigration on board the ship?

The haste of all this is not justified, and the half arsed-ness of it…

I've been to many countries, and in the sensible ones (mostly non-English speaking) they just check the passport and picture,…

For 70 percent of international arrivals to New Zealand, their first impressions of New Zealand are based in Auckland.

"Oh sweet, they have Dunkin' Donuts here!".

That's why Queen St is filled with confused passengers asking each other "are we still on the boat, dear?" And the ships are all anxious and unhappy not knowing whether…

The record 27.

anything above that and the whole trolley would keel over into walls

Let's get on with it. We need a decent cruise ship facility and public open space on Queens Wharf.

Hang on, there are three different things there. We need a decent cruise ship facility. We need quality public open (and, I would argue covered) space on the waterfront. And we…