So glad you enjoyed it. Portugal is a lovely country and I can’t wait until I return for a wonderful pastel de nata! Thank you for your comment it means a lot.
Hi Pete, You did a great video here and I enjoyed the trip. Haven't sailed on Kaitaki and was interested in the interior layout and passenger comforts etc. Altogether a good informational and well filmed vid. You should try Bluebridge, the private ferry operator, different atmosphere on board especially if they are carrying livestock. Cheers matee (y)
Thank you for the compliment, made my day! It was very crowded inside for this trip due to the bad weather and short of seating.I did not get to sit beside my wife due to lack of two seats together. There were two large empty cattle trucks you can see in the video and the smell was awful, could not escape it despite the 65 mph winds. Will keep Bluebridge in mind. Thanks again. Pete, Texas, USA
What's really noteworthy about this video is 1 that the ship actually sailed and 2 that it actually got to the other side. Given the number of breakdowns with these ageing ships neither can always be taken for granted. And of course the fact that the incoming Minister of Finance took it upon herself to cancel the entire replacement ship and wharf rebuild programme things aren't going to get any better any time soon. I suggest unless you can walk on stormy waters you should stay home.
The ship seemed quite tired and was listing most of the time. I like to think it was because of the strong wind! The crew did get us there safely and did a spectacular job of efficiently directing the vehicles on and off. Don’t know about the politics but I thought the trip was very expensive for what it was. Thank you for your comment. Pete, Texas, USA
Those ships are an accident waiting to happen, I travel Dunedin to Wellington twice a year. Tha fare has jumped from $140 to $250 one way, (Pensioner) and still I must put up with out of control kids.
Thank you for your comment. The work of Mariners is very under appreciated. It is a tough job requiring dedication and without them the world would stop. Pete
great video ......good to see EX IRISH FERRIES "ISLE OF INNISFREE"(1995) built for Dublin /Holyhead and later Rosslare/Pembroke....interesting to see the internal changes made over the years by other ferry operators (p&o/stena line) while on charter from irish ferries and finally sold to interislander in 2017....
@@pjg54g enjoyed video ....i see bluebridge commemara in port on your arrival.... i had many a rough crossing in the bay of biscay while she was operating for brittany ferries from rosslare to bilbao spain ....
@@MR.T.. I love that story with additional information relating to its past life! Great that it means something to you to see it again and refreshes your memory.
Early March, the day before was the most beautiful weather in Wellington and that afternoon was just beautiful in Blenheim. We were unlucky for the ferry crossing. Really unlucky!
Thanks for your comment. Glad it brought back some memories for you. We were so hoping for good weather, it was beautiful the day before and again an hour after we arrived on the South Island. That’s the weather for you!
You are welcome, and your comment is much appreciated. I used a Gopro 10 windshield mounted for getting on and off the ship. Everything else was iPhone 11 at 4K 30 frames per second. All processed with CapCut free software. Regards, Pete
Went over and back late march/early april in a motorhome. Thought it expensive for 4 hr trip at $500 each way. I probably could have got flights and accomodation, and come out infront.
Thank you for your comment. I agree that was expensive. I believe BlueBridge is a bit cheaper. I took the ferry for the experience not cost effectiveness. Hoping for that perfect weather day for the scenery…… Also since passengers had to stay in for the weather there was not enough seating.
I'm rather surprised that so many vehicles are in an open deck, exposed to the salt spray. Why is that necessary.? Why can't the entirety be under cover.?
I am sorry to say but The competition is better, faster boarding, better service, better ship. The interislanders are ticking time bombs and running in borrowed time - old ship, tired crew. Cabin staff give zero f….s - Canteen is filthy with fingerprints on all the glass dating back to the mid 2000‘s😂 Had a dog in the camper in the hill but will never do that again - diesel fumes and noise is terrible. Bluebridge ferry offers a cheap cabin for dog owners so you can stay with your pet - the bonus us if you have to abandon ship you won’t have to leave your dog behind like on the Interislander.
There wasn’t much motion of the ship surprisingly but it was listing to one side a lot of the time which made walking around tricky. Also for my filming it was hard to determine the actual horizon which you will notice in my video. Oops shouldn’t have mentioned that ha ha. Thank you for your comment! Pete
