Yesterday reports of bewildered cruise tourists being fleeced by shuttle links in Kiwi ports made it apparent some were not only lacked sympathy but were cashing in on the ignorance of international tourists.
Fresh off the boat and wet behind the ears, they were charged anywhere between $20-$50 for shuttle buses into Christchurch from Lyttelton.
As the first cruise passengers in over 900 days, no wonder they didn't know there was a $2.10 metro bus into town.
Talking to some of the 3000 newly arrived cruise passengers who arrived in Christchurch via the new wharf, many felt as if they had been short changed on transport options. Even when paying a foreign exchange rate in a new town, US$30 was a steep ask.
The fear of missing the boat was greater than the desire to head out in the city and explore on public transport. Instead they made a 20 minute loop, stopped for a cup of tea and made their way back to the boat.
They had seen enough, they said. Anyway, they had already booked their coach tour tickets to Hobbiton for the end of the week.
The cruise line said it was not up to them to set the pricing.
Guests must "make their own way to further locations outside the port area, either through pre-arranged or local transport options," was the company's policy towards shore excursions.
Your brain on a foreign metro system
It's uncharitable to dismiss cruise travel as passive holidays. Charging travellers a premium for "convenience" is one thing. Charging them for a lack of local knowledge is another.
A new city can be a difficult thing to navigate, especially if you have the added time pressures of a shore excursion.
Several years ago I had the fortune of attending a public lecture in London, specifically about this matter. As a city it is blessed not only with the most complex, anxiety-inducing public transport system in the world but also the centre for psychogeography at the University of London. (Three stops southbound on the Northern Line from Euston, three east on the Piccadilly. Can't miss it!)
The lecture pitted author Will Self against a London taxi driver. Using an MRI scan they were both tested on their knowledge of the city. The effect was to light up parts of the brain more complex and intricate than the TLF map of Greater London.
The area of the brain associated with learning places, the hippocampus, is also closely related to anxiety and other strong emotions. While learning your way around a new destination is a slow process, forming negative memories is very quick.
Excuse that massive detour from Lyttelton, but it was an important one.
The large numbers of arrivals on the freshly re-started cruise season is great news, especially at Lyttelton which welcomes the first cruise ships in over a decade.
The newly built $67 million cruise terminal is expected to welcome over 170,000 visitors this season. But that's only so helpful if they never explore further than 500 metres from the docks due to extortionate transport costs.
'Build it and they will come' only gets you so far. Christchurch and its ports need more equitable ways of transporting these cruise guests when they arrive.
Because, after over a decade without them, what is worse? To not have them or have them back begrudgingly?
