Cruise liner offers to help boaties

The Queen Elizabeth cruise liner offered to help rescue boaties in distress in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf but locals had the job in hand.

A 5.5m runabout with four adults and a child on board hit rocks near The Noises islands in the Hauraki Gulf shortly after 9pm on Friday, says Coastguard operations manager Ray Burge.

The Queen Elizabeth was leaving port at the time and offered to help but two Coastguard vessels arrived within 20 minutes and the stranded group were plucked from a rock.

Their vessel was floated off with the incoming tide and taken under tow to Half Moon Bay where it arrived about 1am on Saturday.

"The skipper had lifejackets for everyone and was able to make the distress call to get help. This makes a huge difference to our ability to respond and get the positive outcome after what was no doubt a frightening experience for those on board the runabout," said Mr Burge.

The Queen Elizabeth is currently in the Bay of Islands and will be in the Dardanelles on the eve of Anzac Day before continuing to Istanbul.

It will be sailing through the same waters that a flagship by the same name led a fleet to Gallipoli 100 years ago.