High life on the ocean wave

Passengers can luxuriate in the Canyon Ranch Spa.

When, at 17, Christopher Rynd took his first job on a passenger ship, he was warned it was not a career with a future.

The golden era of cruising the oceans on giant ships was a thing of the past; air travel had seen to that. People no longer had the time, or the inclination, to spend a leisurely six weeks or more wallowing between destinations.

Rynd was not to be dissuaded. After a cadetship on transtasman routes with the Union Steamship Co, he set sail on the SS Oronsay, a P&O vessel which travelled between Australasia and Britain.

Thirty-six years on, the boy from Waiuku will guide the world's longest passenger liner into Auckland Harbour on February 17 as the captain of the Queen Mary 2.

Auckland will never have seen her like and, even for as experienced a skipper as Rynd, it will be an emotion-charged occasion. At 345m, the Queen Mary 2 will be too long and too high to berth at the Princes Wharf overseas terminal. Her well-heeled passengers will instead disembark at the Jellicoe Wharf container terminal.

Launched just three years ago, the Cunard liner is testimony to the renewed popularity of this form of travel.

The billion-dollar vessel regularly plies the Atlantic between New York and Southampton, with occasional jaunts to the Caribbean and Europe. But in January it will leave Miami on an epic 81-night around-the-world cruise, stopping at 19 ports.

The liner will reach Auckland after an 11-day voyage from San Francisco, and a week after the Queen Elizabeth 2 calls here as part of her 25th anniversary world cruise.

"It's a nod to a bygone era of elegant voyaging," says Rynd in a polished English accent which belies his roots. Though he lives in Fulham, London, he is on the phone from Sydney, the hometown of his wife, Julie. When not at sea, the couple - their three children now adults - divide their time between England, Australia and New Zealand.

Rynd was born to the seafarer's nomadic life. His ex-Royal Navy father was vicar at Pokeno before becoming a seafarer's chaplain, and much of Rynd's childhood was spent on the docks of Singapore, Sri Lanka and Samoa as his father's postings changed. He boarded at King's College in Otahuhu but was set on a life at sea.

In 1970, his first year sailing, half a million people took cruises. This year liners will carry 15 million passengers. "Early in my career I was advised to get out of it and into some other branch of the marine industry. But I'm simply delighted that I did not. There's nothing that's quite so interesting, and fully occupying of all your skills and senses, as a passenger ship."

These are the measured tones of a thoroughly professional former captain of the Love Boat. Qualifying as master in 1979, his previous commands with P&O include the Royal Princess and the Pacific Princess, which featured in the Love Boat TV series. While that series poked fun at those who held the fate of hundreds of lives in their hands, it's hard to imagine anything but a shipshape-and-Bristol-fashion experience on a ship under Rynd's command.

"What you've got [with the Queen Mary 2] is a ship that's heir to all that's gone before. It follows the tradition of that great age of liners and that great age of travel, and the style and elegance is reflected in the passengers."

Rynd is "absolutely conscious" of the fine line a captain must tread between genial host and his professional role of securing the safety and comfort of passengers. A ship carrying the population of a small town (4300 including crew) has a vast range of entertainment options and the social whirl is hectic. He will entertain at the Captain's Table three days in six, attend parties and functions and special occasions ...

"It gets fairly involved but social duties can never take precedence over your professional duties."

Not that he's ever been seriously concerned about safety on a ship built for high speed and stormy seas. "There are times when I'm anxious - not for the ship, because it can take a lot more rough weather than the passengers, but for the passengers' comfort.

"The last world cruise on the QE2 began with a midwinter Atlantic crossing which a group of fans booked for in the hope of some rough weather. Rough weather there was, but I disappointed them - and pleased the majority of the passengers - by avoiding this, adding 400 miles and crossing via the Azores."

On a typical day, Rynd spends about 12 hours on duty, walking the ship at some point to ensure everything is running smoothly. There is a surprising amount of office and administrative work. "We are constantly rehearsing for what we hope will never happen."

While passengers see the captain as entirely responsible for their comfort, Rynd says heads of department "at the top of their careers" ensure there are few complaints. There are onboard enrichment programmes including lectures by trendsetters in the arts, food and literature to offset the wining and dining and dances and movies and dozens of other options spread around the 14 passenger decks.

"People enjoy the formal occasions especially on the trans-Atlantic crossings. Some stars travel, recently Uma Thurman with her two children. A charming and graceful woman."

He is not inclined to reveal too much about the characters or incidents which enrich shipboard life.

"Some people would prefer that what happens on board stays on board. There are people who consider that the ship is their home and delightfully call you 'young man' and point out that somebody is occupying their seat and what am I going to do about it."

Rynd often returns to New Zealand - his idea of a holiday is to escape to a "completely different environment", tramping or fly fishing in our remote bush. He and Julie walked the Milford Track last year. "That, to me, is a perfect holiday."

The captain's table

Favourite ports of call of Captain Rynd

Istanbul: "Going up the Bosphorus with the sense of that mix of cultures - Asia on one side and Europe on the other."

New York: "An early morning arrival at such a terrific destination."

Rio de Janeiro: "Another top destination, certainly for its visual scenery."

Sydney: "Pretty outstanding, glistening harbour and lots of boats to welcome you."

San Francisco: "For the same reasons."

Hong Kong: "By night, rather than by day, with all the lights and boats on the water."

* Further information

For information about cruising on Queen Mary 2, call 0800 951 200, see your local travel agent or visit Cunard Line.

Come aboard

Would you like to join the Queen Mary 2 for its maiden cruise from San Francisco to Auckland? Cunard and Herald Travel are offering the chance for a reader to win a package worth almost $20,000 including:

* Economy flights for two from Auckland to San Francisco.

* Accommodation for one night in San Francisco.

* Join the Queen Mary 2 in San Francisco on February 5 with accommodation in a premium balcony stateroom with private facilities, all onboard main meals and entertainment.

* Cruise for 11 nights on board the queen of ocean liners, travelling via Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands on February 9 and Pago Pago in American Samoa on February 13, arriving in Auckland on February 17.

To have a chance to win this amazing trip you should:

* Write your name, address and a daytime contact phone number on the back of an envelope;

* Give the name of the port the Queen Mary 2 will visit immediately before reaching Auckland;

* Post to "Queen Mary 2 Cruise", Travel Section, NZ Herald, PO Box 3290, Auckland.

Entries must reach the Herald by noon on Tuesday, December 5, and the name of the winner will be printed in Travel on Tuesday December 12.