LUXURY CRUISE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 45, 22 February 1934, Page 8

LUXURY CRUISE.

FRANCONIA TOUR. VARIED TRIPS ON SHORE. BENEFIT TO LOCAL TRADE. With only four days in port at Auckland. tourists on the luxury liner Franeonia have been making the most of their time. A party of 110 left Auckland yesterday morning by special train for Kotorua. They are due back this evening at seven. To-morrow they will make sight-seeing motor tours of the city. Saturday lias been left as a free day and the visitors will make their own arrangements for trips and entertainment. Another party of over 40 left yesterday by motor for a ton; of the North Island before joining the ship at Wellington. A further SO left yesterday by train for Hangatiki, en route to the YVaitomo Caves. Several smaller private parties have left by motor for the principal tourist resorts of the North j Island. Tho.so passengers who have stayed in ] Auckland have patronised the large shops in the city in a lavish manner. This morning messenger boys and carriers were going on board laden with the purchases of the visitors. Local trado will benefit not only from these private purchases, but also from the restocking of the ship's larders. It is estimated that the amount that will be spent iu New Zealand as a result of the liner's visit will be over £10.000. There are over 200 passengers on board and a crew of 430. The ship is beautifully fitted and is more like an hotel than a liner.* She was recently redecorated and the new furnishings are in the unostentatious style of English luxury. A magnificent open fireplace in which huge logs burn in the cold weather dominates the smoking room, while the dining saloon is designed on the lines of the fashionable restaurants of the West End of London. A gymnasium, swimming bath, s porta deck and full-sized squash racquets court provide adequate recreational facilities.

Since the liner was last here in 1927 she lias been painted white. This was done as the result of discoveries made in England that white does not conduct so much heat as a dark colour. Experiments have shown that with the newpaint the ship is almost 10 degrees cooler in the hot weather than previously.