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New Zealand is tops with Azamara’s Larry Pimentel

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Larry and Sandi Pimentel toured Wellington's Te Papa museum (Photo: Helen Hutcheon)
Azamara Club Cruises’ president and ceo Larry Pimentel set the tone for this week’s Cruise New Zealand 2016 in Wellington when he told the 135 delegates that the country is one of his favourite destinations in the world.

‘Everyone wants to see it,’ Pimentel said, adding that New Zealand’s marketing is ‘brilliant.’
 
He said New Zealand should encourage cruise lines to schedule overnights as there is so much to see and do. More pre- and post-cruise packages should be developed, as well as ‘bespoke products’ that money can’t buy.
 
‘It is more than a city sightseeing destination,’ he said.
 
Pimentel advised New Zealand to continue to expose its unique Maori heritage.  He said it should also continue to highlight its fabulous food and wine.
 
‘Your past is your future,’ he said, with Maori culture at the top of the list of tourist attractions. 
 
Pimentel said every cruise ship visitor should be directed to Wellington’s outstanding Te Papa museum where tours manager extraordinaire Philip Louie, a CNZ 2016 delegate, took him and his wife, Sandi, to see ‘Gallipoli: The Scale Of Our War.’
 
This ground-breaking exhibition created by local special effects company Weta Workshop that made the creatures for Sir Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films, runs until 2018 and tells the story of eight New Zealanders in the World War 1 campaign with giant sculptures 2.4 times human size. 
 
It also has a marvellous collection of Maori artefacts.
 
Pimentel, whose Azamara Journey will make her maiden voyage to New Zealand and Australia next year, said New Zealand is ideally placed for South Pacific turnarounds and predicted that cruise companies will look at buying small islands in the region for exclusivity.