Woke up after a good night's sleep and lazed around the hotel room until around 9:30 am. Even though I couldn't board the ship until midday, I had decided to try to see if I could check my suitcase at the ship so I wouldn't have to drag it around Auckland all day. Turns out that they were quite happy to take my bag, so I left it with them and wandered around Auckland for a couple of hours. It wasn't really all that comfortable, although it wasn't too warm (only about 23 degrees) it was about a million percent humidity and I'm really not used to that any more. I don't know how I'm going to survive the Mediterranean next year!
Boarding wasn't a huge drama - just the usual check in with Princess, go through immigration, go through security, get your photo taken, etc. I had no clear picture of how many people might be joining the ship, but later the captain said that about 600 people had boarded - that's more than I'd expected, it's actually around a quarter of the usual passenger load.
So, I found my room, unpacked, and went for a look around the ship which not at all surprisingly hasn't changed much since I was last onboard! All the newcomers to the ship had to do the emergency drill at 5:15 which made it a bit tricky to get to dinner on time - the drill didn't finish until well after 5:30 and dinner is 5:45. And, I had to get up and back down 6 flights of stairs to drop off my life jacket in the cabin - I didn't really think they'd want me to have that in the dining room! However, I made it only a couple of minutes late, and they were being lenient about letting late-comers in, presumably because quite a few of us had to be at the drill.
I'm doing traditional dining this time, and I'm at a 'singles' table which apparently is the Princess way. It's a table for 6, but only 4 of us showed up - two older ladies (Gilly and Sheila) who have both been on the cruise since Sydney and who had already met earlier in the cruise, plus another lady (Alison) who is a little younger than me and who flew over from Newcastle today. We seemed to get on quite well and dinner was - as usual - completely acceptable.
After dinner I went and lost some money on the pokies of course, and then came back to the cabin and crashed. All in all, a quiet unexciting day, which is exactly how I plan the rest of the cruise to be as well!
Thursday 31 December 2015
Tuesday 29 December 2015
Sandy's New Year Holiday - Day 1 - Canberra to Auckland
Arrived at Canberra Airport just before Qantas opened up for the day. International check-in was really quick although it wouldn't have been so fast if I'd arrived a bit later, seems lots of people were taking international trips starting with a Canberra to Sydney flight. They didn't have the Qantas Club open so all of us lowly Qantas Club persons were allowed to go into the Business Club - I've never been in there before; it's a definite step up.
Flight to Sydney was pretty good considering it was one of the little planes.
If you read my posts from earlier this year you'll know that the reason I was flying so early was because of an argument I had with Qantas - they changed my flights without consulting me, and left me with a 60 minute transit time in Sydney, which they insist is adequate. It was my personal opinion that this isn't enough time to get from a domestic flight to an international gate, but it took me quite some time to get the flights changed so that I had what I thought was an acceptable transit time.
In theory, they were right - I made it from the Canberra flight to Gate 55 at the International Terminal in about 40 minutes. But, I had a dream run; the transfer bus arrived about 2 minutes after I got there, and I got through both immigration and security more quickly than I ever have. I still think 60 minutes is cutting it really fine - any of those steps along the way could easily have taken another 10 or 20 minutes. Anyway, lesson learned, I will NEVER again fly from Canberra to Sydney to connect with an international flight.
The flight to Auckland also went pretty well apart from one embarrassing incident. I thought I had purchased a small bottle of water, but when I opened it at 10,000 meters or so I found that I had bought some 'slightly' sparkling water - which at that altitude opened like a shaken up bottle of Coke! Fortunately the water only went onto me and no fellow passengers! Took ages until the fizz settled down enough that I could actually drink it!
Food on the flight to Auckland was interesting. The Qantas website had offered me the option to choose my meal in advance, which I did. However, there was no sign on the flight that this choice had any effect, they just offered me a meal the same as everyone else. I got the meal I had supposedly pre-ordered anyway, so all is good, but I wonder why they offer this option if they're not going to take any notice of it once you're actually on the plane? Anyway, the best thing about the food was dessert - they came around after the meal offering an icecream which turned out to be a Weis bar - Strawberry, Watermelon & Lychee flavour and absolutely delicious!
Food on the flight to Auckland was interesting. The Qantas website had offered me the option to choose my meal in advance, which I did. However, there was no sign on the flight that this choice had any effect, they just offered me a meal the same as everyone else. I got the meal I had supposedly pre-ordered anyway, so all is good, but I wonder why they offer this option if they're not going to take any notice of it once you're actually on the plane? Anyway, the best thing about the food was dessert - they came around after the meal offering an icecream which turned out to be a Weis bar - Strawberry, Watermelon & Lychee flavour and absolutely delicious!
Flying in over Auckland we got a good view of the city, including two cruise ships in port - Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas and Holland America's Noordam. They'll both be leaving Auckland tonight - Explorer of the Seas on the way to New Caledonia and Noordam to the Bay of Islands.
It took about an hour to get out of Auckland airport, but most of that time was getting from the plane to the terminal. They parked us out on the edge of the airport somewhere and we had to wait for a bus - actually it took three buses - to take us to the terminal. I suspect the airport was a bit busier than usual today!
I had pre-booked a bus to the City from the airport, and that went well, they only run every 20 minutes or so but there was one waiting when I got to the bus stop. I got dropped off at one of their stops in the city which is less than a minute walk to my hotel. I have a very nice room including a little kitchenette so I'm just cooking up some dinner following the last disaster of the day - I couldn't get the suitcase lock to open. I checked it out three or four times at home and wrote the number down so I'm sure I was using the right number, but it wouldn't budge. And, looking at it more closely, it seems to have been beaten around a bit in the plane (as has my luggage strap - it's a bright orange one that makes my suitcase easier to identify, but it's a bit worse for wear now, some piece of machinery tried to eat it). The hotel sent up a man with some pliers and he managed to break the lock off, although it was tougher than it looked. Hopefully that's the last drama for today and I can get some sleep soon.
Tuesday 15 December 2015
Cruise Control
It's possible to buy a t-shirt with a picture of a cruise ship on it, and the words:
After last year's big holiday, we decided that we'd pretty much reached the end of our plans for big holidays and that we really would need to slow down the number of cruises we go on if either of us ever want to retire.
We did two cruises in 2010, two in 2011, three in 2012, two in 2013, one in 2014, and one so far this year. However, unless we're going crazy like we did in 2012 with three cruises in one big overseas trip, we have rarely ever had more than one future cruise booked at any one time.
So, the outcome of deciding not to do so much cruising is that we currently have five (!!) future cruises booked.
The latest two additions are quite short cruises, in fact the shortest you'll get from Australia - two days each. Both are from Sydney to Brisbane; one is for Paul by himself next November and one is for both of us the following March. It's a nice way to visit the family and actually not a lot more expensive than flying business class (not that I'd ever waste money flying business class for that short a flight):
Anyway, the next cruise is the only one I'm really thinking about at the moment...... Just over two weeks now until I'm off to Auckland to cruise back to Sydney. I'm really looking forward to this; I've got no plans to do anything except possibly laze around in deck chairs and sleep through the New Year celebrations (if the last few years are any indication - I seem to be too old to stay awake past about 10:30 pm).
Although, come to think of it, despite the fact that my cabin (A745) is an inside, it's only a few steps from one of the many pools:
And it's also right underneath a bar area :
I suspect that there'll be a reasonable amount of celebration, so maybe I'll be awake even if I don't join the party :-)
I have no cruise control - it's like the cruises book themselves!
I'm going to buy myself one of those t-shirts.After last year's big holiday, we decided that we'd pretty much reached the end of our plans for big holidays and that we really would need to slow down the number of cruises we go on if either of us ever want to retire.
We did two cruises in 2010, two in 2011, three in 2012, two in 2013, one in 2014, and one so far this year. However, unless we're going crazy like we did in 2012 with three cruises in one big overseas trip, we have rarely ever had more than one future cruise booked at any one time.
So, the outcome of deciding not to do so much cruising is that we currently have five (!!) future cruises booked.
The latest two additions are quite short cruises, in fact the shortest you'll get from Australia - two days each. Both are from Sydney to Brisbane; one is for Paul by himself next November and one is for both of us the following March. It's a nice way to visit the family and actually not a lot more expensive than flying business class (not that I'd ever waste money flying business class for that short a flight):
- Qantas Canberra to Brisbane business class for two of us = $1610
- Bus from Canberra to Sydney plus the cruise to Brisbane in a suite for the two of us = $1988 (and actually, in an inside cabin, the "bus plus cruise" price would be more like $750 all up).
Anyway, the next cruise is the only one I'm really thinking about at the moment...... Just over two weeks now until I'm off to Auckland to cruise back to Sydney. I'm really looking forward to this; I've got no plans to do anything except possibly laze around in deck chairs and sleep through the New Year celebrations (if the last few years are any indication - I seem to be too old to stay awake past about 10:30 pm).
Although, come to think of it, despite the fact that my cabin (A745) is an inside, it's only a few steps from one of the many pools:
And it's also right underneath a bar area :
I suspect that there'll be a reasonable amount of celebration, so maybe I'll be awake even if I don't join the party :-)
Friday 6 November 2015
Another change of plans
At the time I'm writing this, the little icons to the right of the screen still say that we're going on a cruise on the Ryndam next year. Real soon now though, it will become the Pacific Aria - it's in Singapore being refitted right now.
The little icons also say that we're doing a cruise on the Emerald Princess next year and as of today that's also old news. Much as the itinerary of that cruise was really interesting, the safety / security levels of some of the places it's going have reduced to the point where I didn't feel totally comfortable any more. I know that cruise lines like Princess won't take you into dangerous places, but that knowledge also caused me issues because this particular cruise isn't one that they have a lot of options with - they need the ship to be in Australia by late 2016 and if there were security or safety issues they'd probably drop more ports from the cruise or even completely reroute it, so we could be left with more sea days than even I can handle.
So, we've changed over to a fairly traditional eastern Mediterranean cruise - 14 days, starting and ending in Rome, on the Royal Princess (one of their newer and larger ships). Princess calls it a "Greece, Turkey & Italy Medley" and apart from those three countries we also go to Malta. After the cruise we'll go to England and spend some more time there before coming home.
Even for this new cruise, people are already discussing issues around security in Turkey, but at present the issues in Turkey are limited to the other side of the country from where we're travelling; we'll be more than 1000 kilometres from any of the (currently) really dangerous areas. This is quite unlike the other cruise which is scheduled to go very close to some areas that are already a bit risky - for example it's sailing right up the Gulf of Aqaba into Jordan, and the Sinai side of the Gulf is already flagged as "Reconsider your need to travel".
So, I'll be starting the planning all over again!
The little icons also say that we're doing a cruise on the Emerald Princess next year and as of today that's also old news. Much as the itinerary of that cruise was really interesting, the safety / security levels of some of the places it's going have reduced to the point where I didn't feel totally comfortable any more. I know that cruise lines like Princess won't take you into dangerous places, but that knowledge also caused me issues because this particular cruise isn't one that they have a lot of options with - they need the ship to be in Australia by late 2016 and if there were security or safety issues they'd probably drop more ports from the cruise or even completely reroute it, so we could be left with more sea days than even I can handle.
So, we've changed over to a fairly traditional eastern Mediterranean cruise - 14 days, starting and ending in Rome, on the Royal Princess (one of their newer and larger ships). Princess calls it a "Greece, Turkey & Italy Medley" and apart from those three countries we also go to Malta. After the cruise we'll go to England and spend some more time there before coming home.
Even for this new cruise, people are already discussing issues around security in Turkey, but at present the issues in Turkey are limited to the other side of the country from where we're travelling; we'll be more than 1000 kilometres from any of the (currently) really dangerous areas. This is quite unlike the other cruise which is scheduled to go very close to some areas that are already a bit risky - for example it's sailing right up the Gulf of Aqaba into Jordan, and the Sinai side of the Gulf is already flagged as "Reconsider your need to travel".
So, I'll be starting the planning all over again!
Saturday 17 October 2015
75 days until my next cruise
I got all excited yesterday because it was 75 days until my little New Zealand to Sydney cruise. This means that I should be able to log on and print out my cruise documentation.
Well, no.
Firstly, I had forgotten that the 75 days is based on California time, so it didn't tick down to 75 days until quite late yesterday.
Then, it still wouldn't let me print out the documents - because I haven't given them my credit card details. We always give them credit card details so I was surprised that it's a block to printing out the cruise documents. The only reason I haven't done it this time is because my credit card expires next month - the new one is on the way but I haven't got it yet.
So, I'm still waiting. All that excitement wasted!
Still, it's interesting though, because you supposedly can't board the ship without the Boarding Pass that's part of this doco, and a lot of people pay their onboard costs by cash rather than credit card. Presumably they must have to provide card details just to get their boarding pass, and then later delete the card details.
Which now brings me to - really, I am an idiot. I won't use our normal St George card for paying for onboard expenses, because it's a debit card. Just like hotels, the cruise lines put a hold on your card, and just like any other hold, if you do this on a debit card the hold isn't always automatically released once the real charge goes through. So, I never use that card for cruise payments. However, I could certainly use it now just to get the documents released, and then change it later once I've got the new credit card. How slow am I?
Anyway, I'm now off to the Princess website to get my documents!!!
Well, no.
Firstly, I had forgotten that the 75 days is based on California time, so it didn't tick down to 75 days until quite late yesterday.
Then, it still wouldn't let me print out the documents - because I haven't given them my credit card details. We always give them credit card details so I was surprised that it's a block to printing out the cruise documents. The only reason I haven't done it this time is because my credit card expires next month - the new one is on the way but I haven't got it yet.
So, I'm still waiting. All that excitement wasted!
Still, it's interesting though, because you supposedly can't board the ship without the Boarding Pass that's part of this doco, and a lot of people pay their onboard costs by cash rather than credit card. Presumably they must have to provide card details just to get their boarding pass, and then later delete the card details.
Which now brings me to - really, I am an idiot. I won't use our normal St George card for paying for onboard expenses, because it's a debit card. Just like hotels, the cruise lines put a hold on your card, and just like any other hold, if you do this on a debit card the hold isn't always automatically released once the real charge goes through. So, I never use that card for cruise payments. However, I could certainly use it now just to get the documents released, and then change it later once I've got the new credit card. How slow am I?
Anyway, I'm now off to the Princess website to get my documents!!!
Monday 12 October 2015
Paul's birthday Cruise last day - Monday 12 October 2015 - kicked off the ship in Sydney
We had the alarm set for 6am - not pretty after a couple of weeks of sleeping in as late as we liked.
I woke up a little earlier than this anyway, and discovered that the Pacific Jewel was following us into port. In this shot we have just docked at the Overseas Passenger Terminal and the Jewel is continuing on to the cruise terminal at White Bay (our ship can't fit under the bridge).
Everything about getting off the ship went really smoothly - we managed to get some breakfast without having to hunt for a table; we were called to leave the ship at almost exactly the time they planned (8:05am, very precise!) and the whole process was quite quick - we were kicked out onto the street in no time.
We caught a train up to Central Station, as planned, and made it to the Murray's bus stop at around 10 to 9. We were booked on the 10am bus but there were seats available on the 9am one, so we took the chance. Quite a good drive too, unlike our trip back to Canberra at the end of our holiday last year.
Off the bus, taxi home, and I'm now in the middle of unpacking, washing clothes etc. Still have some more time off work so there'll be more resting over the next few days, but then back to work to save up some money for the next cruise!!
I woke up a little earlier than this anyway, and discovered that the Pacific Jewel was following us into port. In this shot we have just docked at the Overseas Passenger Terminal and the Jewel is continuing on to the cruise terminal at White Bay (our ship can't fit under the bridge).
Everything about getting off the ship went really smoothly - we managed to get some breakfast without having to hunt for a table; we were called to leave the ship at almost exactly the time they planned (8:05am, very precise!) and the whole process was quite quick - we were kicked out onto the street in no time.
We caught a train up to Central Station, as planned, and made it to the Murray's bus stop at around 10 to 9. We were booked on the 10am bus but there were seats available on the 9am one, so we took the chance. Quite a good drive too, unlike our trip back to Canberra at the end of our holiday last year.
Off the bus, taxi home, and I'm now in the middle of unpacking, washing clothes etc. Still have some more time off work so there'll be more resting over the next few days, but then back to work to save up some money for the next cruise!!
Paul's birthday Cruise Day 13 - Sunday 11 October 2015 - at sea
The sea is much smoother today, but our plans are much the same as yesterday - to do as little as possible.
Paul's birthday today - this "Princess" birthday greeting was on the door of the cabin this morning:
Of course, today is sadly the second last day (the last day really; tomorrow we'll barely see the ship) and so we have to pack our suitcases and leave them out tonight. Everyone has to be out of their cabin before 8am and then you have to go to a specified place to wait for your time to leave the ship. Due to our "Princess" loyalty status we can wait in a separate lounge away from the crowds but if everything is happening on time we won't have long to wait because our departure time from the ship is scheduled to be 8:05 am. This all depends on Customs and Immigration though - we'll just have to see what happens.
For the rest of the day, again, we have no plans at all.
Dinner was very nice - an excellent meal, with the "Baked Alaska Parade" that Princess does on the last night of the cruise, and also for Paul the standard chocolate cake and singing of Happy Birthday!
Paul's birthday today - this "Princess" birthday greeting was on the door of the cabin this morning:
Of course, today is sadly the second last day (the last day really; tomorrow we'll barely see the ship) and so we have to pack our suitcases and leave them out tonight. Everyone has to be out of their cabin before 8am and then you have to go to a specified place to wait for your time to leave the ship. Due to our "Princess" loyalty status we can wait in a separate lounge away from the crowds but if everything is happening on time we won't have long to wait because our departure time from the ship is scheduled to be 8:05 am. This all depends on Customs and Immigration though - we'll just have to see what happens.
For the rest of the day, again, we have no plans at all.
Dinner was very nice - an excellent meal, with the "Baked Alaska Parade" that Princess does on the last night of the cruise, and also for Paul the standard chocolate cake and singing of Happy Birthday!
Paul's birthday Cruise Day 12 - Saturday 10 October 2015 - at sea
The captain lied about smooth sailing. Or maybe he didn't say smooth sailing, maybe he just said good weather. In any case, I knew immediately when we turned to the west and started heading for Sydney because the ship started a fairly slow but noticeable rolling motion. In the end I had to take another Travacalm so I could get to sleep. Generally when the ship has a slow and steady roll on I find it really easy and enjoyable to sleep, but this was a slow, deep, inconsistent and not really gentle roll - enough to make the TV move on it's stand and to cause you to lose your balance when walking if you're not careful. Still going today too.
I'm not really complaining though - I plan to have two quiet days to finish the cruise and so far I'm succeeding!
Final report for the day - almost a complete success when it comes to relaxation. We had a very late breakfast, then we didn't even wait for an afternoon nap, in fact we napped all through lunchtime. I went to the Horizon Court at around 3pm for a snack, but Paul didn't even bother with that. Then we watched some TV - a movie called Kingsman which wasn't too bad. Then off to dinner - formal night tonight, and Lobster for main course (for me anyway) - yum. Paul had Beef Wellington which was apparently also really good.
We had a group photo taken with our table mates; they're such nice people and we have had an excellent time with them. Since I'll certainly forget their names if I don't write them down - they were Marilyn and Eric from Sydney and Bob and John from Wangaratta.
After dinner we lost a little money in the casino and off to bed.
I'm not really complaining though - I plan to have two quiet days to finish the cruise and so far I'm succeeding!
Final report for the day - almost a complete success when it comes to relaxation. We had a very late breakfast, then we didn't even wait for an afternoon nap, in fact we napped all through lunchtime. I went to the Horizon Court at around 3pm for a snack, but Paul didn't even bother with that. Then we watched some TV - a movie called Kingsman which wasn't too bad. Then off to dinner - formal night tonight, and Lobster for main course (for me anyway) - yum. Paul had Beef Wellington which was apparently also really good.
We had a group photo taken with our table mates; they're such nice people and we have had an excellent time with them. Since I'll certainly forget their names if I don't write them down - they were Marilyn and Eric from Sydney and Bob and John from Wangaratta.
After dinner we lost a little money in the casino and off to bed.
Saturday 10 October 2015
Paul's birthday Cruise Day 11 - Friday 9 October 2015 - Bay of Islands
Turns out the mobile top-up we bought yesterday wasn't the right sort, so we're a bit short on cheap mobile data today.
The ship is docked in the Bay of Islands. There's no port here where the ship can pull up alongside, so we have to go ashore via tender. Our plans here were always to either stay onboard and do lots more nothing, or possibly to go ashore and to the closest town - Paihia - to have lunch and wander around a little before returning to the ship.
First part of that plan worked ok - we decided to go ashore as it was a lovely day. We didn't have to wait too long for a tender, and the ride to shore wasn't at all rough. We walked around to Paihia - there are shuttles but the walk along the shore is very nice.
However, when we got to Paihia we discovered that they were in the middle of a nasty problem - the power was out - actually in the whole of Northland, not just Paihia. So, no ATMs or EFTPOS (except in one or two little shops that had their own power), and most of the cafes and restaurants had to shut. This is a bit disastrous for them - they're heavily tourist dependent and cruise ships usually bring in a lot of money to the area - there would have been a lot less today.
One group was going well - the St Johns Ambulance was running a sausage sizzle which wasn't affected because they were cooking with gas, and they were doing a roaring trade!
As I said, we had planned to stay in Paihia for lunch - and a decent coffee - but with almost everything closed or only doing partial business there was no chance. So we went back to the spot where the tenders pick you up - I walked but Paul got a shuttle. We didn't have to wait for a tender, we just got straight on the one that was there. However, as we pulled away they realised one of the engines wasn't working, so we had the slowest tender ride in history - seriously, on land, you could have run faster. Fortunately though, the sea was really calm so it wasn't too uncomfortable.
While waiting for dinner time we watched from our balcony as the ship left, and we saw a stack of dolphins - here's one of them
The captain's announcement tonight assures us that although the Tasman Sea is notorious for bad weather, that our trip back to Sydney should be smooth sailing.
Friday 9 October 2015
Paul's birthday Cruise Day 10 - Thursday 8 October 2015 - Auckland
Poor timing today - we got up fairly early and went out - our plans involved going to an Esquires coffee shop (for some proper coffee!!) then we planned to find a game shop that Paul wanted to visit. And, I also wanted to check out the hotel I'm booked in for the night before my December cruise. And, we wanted to top up our mobile internet to make sure we've got enough to get us through tomorrow.
We did all of those things, but in some fairly nasty weather - raining and windy. By the time we did all this it was just about lunch time so we found a place to eat and then went back on board. In the afternoon the weather was much better, but we didn't bother to go out again.
Basically, just a quiet day.
Paul's birthday Cruise Day 9 - Wednesday 7 October 2015 - Tauranga
We arrived in Tauranga on time this morning. Since we've been here before and had no really complicated plans, we decided to do some laundry before breakfast. This worked out well as far as doing the laundry was concerned, but it meant that we arrived at the Horizon Court for breakfast at a little after 9:30, which was approximately the same time as everyone else on the ship got there! We found a seat eventually, but it was a long walk from the food!
Left the ship at around 11am and got onto the shuttle into Tauranga. This is actually the third time we have stopped here on a cruise, but we had never been into Tauranga itself - although the ship docks at the "Port of Tauranga" this is actually at Mt Manganui, which is quite a nice little town to walk around. Turns out that Tauranga is a slightly bigger nice little town to walk around :-)
Anyway, we had some lunch there, then caught the shuttle back and had a wander around the Mt Manganui shops before coming back on board. Just as we walked into the secure area of the port, we saw a bunch of people looking at the water - turns out they were all admiring this little guy:
Went back to our cabin to have a snooze. Went downstairs for dinner later and were surprised by a temporary change to the dining arrangements - I guess because the 'all aboard' time wasn't until 9pm they had closed at least one of the dining rooms and were seating people randomly. We ended up with an Australian couple around our age and a slightly older couple from Fargo, North Dakota. We had a nice chat about many topics including the lack of reality of the movie and TV show "Fargo". Missing much of the South Island as we have is far more disappointing for them - everyone has told them (quite accurately) that Fiordland is a real high point of a cruise like this, and it's going to be a significant effort for them to come here again.
Anyway, back to pictures of the cabin. These three shots are of the main room - not much to say except that you'll see that there are a lot of mirrors, I'm assuming to try to make the room seem bigger than it is. It's quite a comfortable size, particularly one like this which has a balcony attached; the balcony also adds to the perception of space.
Wednesday 7 October 2015
Paul's birthday Cruise Day 8 - Tuesday 6 October 2015 - at sea
The ship was rocking and rolling all night again. In fact I felt off colour enough to take a couple of travel sickness tablets, which is a rare thing for me after the first day or so of a cruise. It may not have been travel sickness anyway, dinner last night was heavier than usual and I stupidly crashed on the bed to watch a movie not long after dinner. Hard to imagine for someone on a cruise, but I many have actually eaten too much :-)
We woke up this morning at around 6am and then fell asleep again - in the end it was almost 10am before we were both awake. We went up to Horizon Court for breakfast - it's served unti 11:30 - and we thought that it might be quiet up there by that time, but no such thing - it was as busy as it is earlier in the day.
We had breakfast and then went for our usual coffee downstairs - very crowded there too, but then it's quite reasonable to expect people might be having a morning tea sort of coffee by that time of day.
We then went into the Casino to lose some money on the pokies. Both of us made it almost back to our cabin before we realised that we had started off the morning with me carrying a Kindle and Paul carrying his tablet computer and neither of those items were with us! Paul rescued his from the poker machine where it was still waiting for him; I rescued my Kindle from the lost and found desk.
This was enough to make us realise that further resting was in order so we spent most of the rest of the daylight hours lazing around. The only exception was lunch - the classic Australian meat pie and chips, topped up with the not quite so Australian 'green tea ice cream in a cone'.
We finished off the day with dinner at another of the specialty restaurants - this time the Italian inspired "Sabatinis". We're convinced that their booking program had gone marginally insane, because they told us, and the couple in front, that we weren't booked for that day even though we were all quite sure we were. Wasn't a problem anyway; they weren't booked out so we all got to eat there. But then they decided to sing happy birthday to Paul and give him one of the chocolate mousse cakes that they do for birthdays, even though it's not his birthday until next week and we told them so. And, just as we were leaving, the man at the table beside us said that it was his birthday - hopefully he didn't think we had stolen his chocolate cake.....
Over the next couple of days I'll post some pictures and details about our cabin.
When you walk in the door, the first thing on your right is this - shelves and hangers for clothes. There is a door on the front of the shelves but it has a full length mirror and you don't really want to see a photo of me taking a photo.
On the right is the door to the tiny but functional bathroom.
Basin and some shelves
Toilet and towel racks
Shower
The shower cubicle is really small - the bathmat you see here is a normal sized small bathmat.
There are people on the ship who can't physically use these showers because of the small size - I gather they have to use the ones in the gym which are apparently larger than the ones in the cabins.
And one final shot - this is the same bathmat on the floor, showing just how little space there really is.
Mind you, it's not the smallest bathroom I've ever seen, I'd guess it's at least 50% bigger than the bathroom in our hotel in Copenhagen, where there was no separate shower cubicle at all, the floor of the bathroom was the floor of the shower.....
Just one final note - don't assume there's nothing much to do on cruise ships just because I don't write about doing too many things. That's just our choice, but if you want to you can spend all day running around the ship watching and doing things. I'll see if I can post an example of a day's activities just to give you an idea.
Tuesday 6 October 2015
Paul's birthday Cruise Day 7 - Monday 5 October 2015 - Picton
Fairly rough night last night while we sailed around in the Cook Strait. I don't think the waves were very big but there was a lot of wind and we weren't getting the nice gentle rock you can get in the open sea; it was a bit more bumpy than that.
Anyway, I woke up to the sounds of my 6am alarm and discovered that despite my fears we had just turned into Queen Charlotte Sound on our way in to Picton.
The captain backed into the dock - this is the view from our cabin as we were approaching and even at this distance you can barely see the dock.
We docked on time and were able to leave the ship quite quickly. This is a busy working port, it seems they export a lot of logs - this is just a small part of it, as viewed from my cabin:
We got off the ship quite quickly, almost no wait for a shuttle. We picked up our hire car without any hassles, and headed off towards Blenheim.
First stop was the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre. Really good display of WW1 vintage aircraft - some original, some reconstructions. Also a lot of smaller informative displays about a large number of famous wartime pilots, including lots of items such as their flying gear, letters they wrote, photographs etc etc
The aviation heritage centre was mostly for Paul's interest, but right next door was the place for me - Omaka Classic Cars. Heaps of classic cars, almost all from the 60s and 70s but some earlier ones also. I really enjoyed this.
They're mostly cars that were "new in New Zealand" and there are some Australian cars - this lovely old classic was apparently imported into NZ for the use of the General Manager of GM in New Zealand.
After this we drove the long way around to the Makana Chocolate and Confectionary store. This one is a regular on ships tours, and they make it sound like there's an actual tour where you get to see the chocolates made, but it's really just a shop. We did spend some money there though!
As I said, we went the long way around to the chocolate place - this was to see if there was anything interesting to look at along the way. There is actually, if you're into wine - I have never seen so many vineyards - and the area is renowned for its wine. Maybe we'll get back here one day when we can actually stay nearby and try some of the wine; we didn't bother today.
Last stop was Blenheim - we parked the car and had lunch at a Turkish restaurant. I should have taken a photo - all I can say is if we had small serves I couldn't imagine anyone getting through a large one! Pretty good food.
Then, back to Picton to drop off the car - again, no problems. We had to top up the fuel of course - we only used about 8 litres but at $2.05 per litre it still added about $17 to the price for the day.
However, I think we did much better than we would have on a ship's tour . The ship was offering a tour of 3 hours 45 minutes where you got to see the Aviation Heritage Centre and the chocolate shop, and a brewery. Now, the heritage centre costs $35, or $45 if you get the guided tour which I presume you would if you took the ship's tour. The chocolate place doesn't have an entry fee, nor does the brewery. So, car hire for us, including the petrol, was about $135. Even if we had gone for the guided tour at the aviation centre, we'd have only spent another $90. So, basically $240 for the day for both of us to do the ship's tour ourselves, with the added bonus that you can go other places if you want to, and of course you aren't caught up in the crowds (we were very lucky; we didn't see any of the big ship's tours anywhere). My point is though that for the ship's tour they were charging almost twice as much - $219 per person. It really can be much more sensible to organise your own tours and not do the ship's ones. (Not always the case, but always worth checking out).
The captain made an announcement at dinner that the last night had reached 150kph, not just gusts but sustained at that speed. No wonder the ship was rocking around a bit. He warned us that there will be more of the same tomorrow.
Anyway, I woke up to the sounds of my 6am alarm and discovered that despite my fears we had just turned into Queen Charlotte Sound on our way in to Picton.
The captain backed into the dock - this is the view from our cabin as we were approaching and even at this distance you can barely see the dock.
We docked on time and were able to leave the ship quite quickly. This is a busy working port, it seems they export a lot of logs - this is just a small part of it, as viewed from my cabin:
We got off the ship quite quickly, almost no wait for a shuttle. We picked up our hire car without any hassles, and headed off towards Blenheim.
First stop was the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre. Really good display of WW1 vintage aircraft - some original, some reconstructions. Also a lot of smaller informative displays about a large number of famous wartime pilots, including lots of items such as their flying gear, letters they wrote, photographs etc etc
The aviation heritage centre was mostly for Paul's interest, but right next door was the place for me - Omaka Classic Cars. Heaps of classic cars, almost all from the 60s and 70s but some earlier ones also. I really enjoyed this.
They're mostly cars that were "new in New Zealand" and there are some Australian cars - this lovely old classic was apparently imported into NZ for the use of the General Manager of GM in New Zealand.
After this we drove the long way around to the Makana Chocolate and Confectionary store. This one is a regular on ships tours, and they make it sound like there's an actual tour where you get to see the chocolates made, but it's really just a shop. We did spend some money there though!
As I said, we went the long way around to the chocolate place - this was to see if there was anything interesting to look at along the way. There is actually, if you're into wine - I have never seen so many vineyards - and the area is renowned for its wine. Maybe we'll get back here one day when we can actually stay nearby and try some of the wine; we didn't bother today.
Last stop was Blenheim - we parked the car and had lunch at a Turkish restaurant. I should have taken a photo - all I can say is if we had small serves I couldn't imagine anyone getting through a large one! Pretty good food.
Then, back to Picton to drop off the car - again, no problems. We had to top up the fuel of course - we only used about 8 litres but at $2.05 per litre it still added about $17 to the price for the day.
However, I think we did much better than we would have on a ship's tour . The ship was offering a tour of 3 hours 45 minutes where you got to see the Aviation Heritage Centre and the chocolate shop, and a brewery. Now, the heritage centre costs $35, or $45 if you get the guided tour which I presume you would if you took the ship's tour. The chocolate place doesn't have an entry fee, nor does the brewery. So, car hire for us, including the petrol, was about $135. Even if we had gone for the guided tour at the aviation centre, we'd have only spent another $90. So, basically $240 for the day for both of us to do the ship's tour ourselves, with the added bonus that you can go other places if you want to, and of course you aren't caught up in the crowds (we were very lucky; we didn't see any of the big ship's tours anywhere). My point is though that for the ship's tour they were charging almost twice as much - $219 per person. It really can be much more sensible to organise your own tours and not do the ship's ones. (Not always the case, but always worth checking out).
The captain made an announcement at dinner that the last night had reached 150kph, not just gusts but sustained at that speed. No wonder the ship was rocking around a bit. He warned us that there will be more of the same tomorrow.
Monday 5 October 2015
Paul's birthday Cruise Day 6 - Sunday 4 October 2015 - Wellington
After yesterday's long walk we had a serious sleep in this morning. Not long after reconnecting with the world I discovered a couple of Facebook messages from Adam saying that he had locked himself out of the house the previous evening. Needless to say I got into a minor panic which didn't end until I purchased a prepaid SIM for my phone and called him, only to discover that Facebook had totally misled me with the "time" labels on the messages and Adam had it all completely under control.
However, on the bright side, my phone actually now functions as a phone instead of just a fancy camera, and it was really very cheap - for the SIM, a couple of hundred local calls and texts and a package of 200 minutes of calls and 100 texts back to Australia, and a small amount of data as well, it cost a grand total of $NZ29.
There's a cable car in the city which takes you up to the top of the Botanic Gardens and also to an observatory. Yesterday there were huge queues for the cable car but today when we wandered by there were only a few people waiting. So, we went up and then decided to walk back down through the Botanic Gardens. It was a really nice walk - no photos though because they're all still on my phone.
Once we got back into the city we wandered over to the wharfs to see the Markets - interesting, with lots of really nice hand made clothes, jewellery etc. Then we staggered back to the ship and crashed for a few hours.
During the day the weather deteriorated noticeably. I saw reports of 160kph winds (cyclone level) off Akaroa - where we should have been today - and the wind was quite strong by the time we got back on board. The captain started to make an announcement during dinner and we all feared the worst, but he said that we would be leaving Wellington and sailing around in the Cook Straight overnight until it's time to go into Picton - which is apparently a fairly complex manoeuvre. I'm still a bit concerned because he was saying how fortunate it is that the weather is due to abate at around 6am, when it's time for us to start the move towards Picton. Sadly I'm pretty sure he was setting us up for a possible disappointment in the morning if the weather stays this bad. Anyway, only time will tell.
However, on the bright side, my phone actually now functions as a phone instead of just a fancy camera, and it was really very cheap - for the SIM, a couple of hundred local calls and texts and a package of 200 minutes of calls and 100 texts back to Australia, and a small amount of data as well, it cost a grand total of $NZ29.
There's a cable car in the city which takes you up to the top of the Botanic Gardens and also to an observatory. Yesterday there were huge queues for the cable car but today when we wandered by there were only a few people waiting. So, we went up and then decided to walk back down through the Botanic Gardens. It was a really nice walk - no photos though because they're all still on my phone.
Once we got back into the city we wandered over to the wharfs to see the Markets - interesting, with lots of really nice hand made clothes, jewellery etc. Then we staggered back to the ship and crashed for a few hours.
During the day the weather deteriorated noticeably. I saw reports of 160kph winds (cyclone level) off Akaroa - where we should have been today - and the wind was quite strong by the time we got back on board. The captain started to make an announcement during dinner and we all feared the worst, but he said that we would be leaving Wellington and sailing around in the Cook Straight overnight until it's time to go into Picton - which is apparently a fairly complex manoeuvre. I'm still a bit concerned because he was saying how fortunate it is that the weather is due to abate at around 6am, when it's time for us to start the move towards Picton. Sadly I'm pretty sure he was setting us up for a possible disappointment in the morning if the weather stays this bad. Anyway, only time will tell.
Sunday 4 October 2015
Paul's birthday Cruise Day 5 - Saturday 3 October 2015 - Wellington
Beautiful day in Wellington today - cool enough in the morning to need a jacket but by lunchtime it was lovely and sunny.
The ship was docked at the cruise terminal which is right beside Westpac stadium and only a kilometre or so from the city. We didn't have any plans for Wellington - obviously since we weren't expecting to be here! - so we decided to carry out our planned activities for Dunedin which consisted of recharging our NZ mobile internet widget so that we can have decent internet access when we're in port. We did that, then had a coffee, and decided to keep walking around. While doing this we saw a sign pointing towards the NZ War Memorial so we decided to walk there. The memorial itself
was dedicated in 1932, however earlier this year they dedicated an expanded National War Memorial Park which includes a memorial donated by Australia in memory of all soldiers and wars where Australian and New Zealand troops served together. It looks a little sparse now but once the trees grow it will be a quite impressive monument (although of course totally overshadowed by the main memorial)
Behind the war memorial is the Dominion Museum which currently houses a Great War Exhibition created by Sir Peter Jackson. We didn't get to see it today, the queues were really long (I suspect something to do with 2800 tourists and a bunch of cruise ship crew unexpectedly arriving in town). I definitely want to come back to NZ again to do some land based travel, and this exhibit is now definitely on my list. It will be there until 2018, so I have a bit of time....
On the way, we also got to see where Basin Reserve is - one of those sports grounds I regularly hear mentioned but I had no idea it was in the middle of Wellington.
Final note - while at dinner the captain announced that the weather has turned bad again and that we now won't be able to go to Akaroa tomorrow. Instead, another day in Wellington. We might now try to get into the Great War Exhibition.
The ship was docked at the cruise terminal which is right beside Westpac stadium and only a kilometre or so from the city. We didn't have any plans for Wellington - obviously since we weren't expecting to be here! - so we decided to carry out our planned activities for Dunedin which consisted of recharging our NZ mobile internet widget so that we can have decent internet access when we're in port. We did that, then had a coffee, and decided to keep walking around. While doing this we saw a sign pointing towards the NZ War Memorial so we decided to walk there. The memorial itself
was dedicated in 1932, however earlier this year they dedicated an expanded National War Memorial Park which includes a memorial donated by Australia in memory of all soldiers and wars where Australian and New Zealand troops served together. It looks a little sparse now but once the trees grow it will be a quite impressive monument (although of course totally overshadowed by the main memorial)
Behind the war memorial is the Dominion Museum which currently houses a Great War Exhibition created by Sir Peter Jackson. We didn't get to see it today, the queues were really long (I suspect something to do with 2800 tourists and a bunch of cruise ship crew unexpectedly arriving in town). I definitely want to come back to NZ again to do some land based travel, and this exhibit is now definitely on my list. It will be there until 2018, so I have a bit of time....
On the way, we also got to see where Basin Reserve is - one of those sports grounds I regularly hear mentioned but I had no idea it was in the middle of Wellington.
Final note - while at dinner the captain announced that the weather has turned bad again and that we now won't be able to go to Akaroa tomorrow. Instead, another day in Wellington. We might now try to get into the Great War Exhibition.
Saturday 3 October 2015
Paul's birthday Cruise Day 4 - Friday 2 October 2015 - at sea.
This is the day we should have been cruising through Fiordland but instead we're almost at Wellington.
The clocks have now moved forward an hour on each of the last three nights and it's really making the days a little difficult. The last two days Paul hasn't woken up until after 9am, which is fine except that by the time we've had breakfast and had our walk around the deck it's getting close to lunch time. And, we could delay lunch too, except that our dinner seating starts at 5:45pm and that can't really be delayed (not unless we eat somewhere else).
This should be all ok after tomorrow; I think now they won't change the clocks until we're on our way back to Oz.
Problem was solved today by doing even less than yesterday. The only effort I made was to do 2 miles around the deck today (Paul was only up for one). Apart from that the biggest energy expense involved using the remote control on the TV (we watched Ice Age: Continental Drift) and pressing buttons on the poker machines.
High point of the evening was at dinner - one of the soups on offer was a cold soup - "Chilled Granny Smith and Cider Soup". Apart from the apple and cider it also contained yoghurt and calvados (apple brandy) and it was just delicious. Not that the rest of the meal was bad, far from it, but the soup was exceptional!
The clocks have now moved forward an hour on each of the last three nights and it's really making the days a little difficult. The last two days Paul hasn't woken up until after 9am, which is fine except that by the time we've had breakfast and had our walk around the deck it's getting close to lunch time. And, we could delay lunch too, except that our dinner seating starts at 5:45pm and that can't really be delayed (not unless we eat somewhere else).
This should be all ok after tomorrow; I think now they won't change the clocks until we're on our way back to Oz.
Problem was solved today by doing even less than yesterday. The only effort I made was to do 2 miles around the deck today (Paul was only up for one). Apart from that the biggest energy expense involved using the remote control on the TV (we watched Ice Age: Continental Drift) and pressing buttons on the poker machines.
High point of the evening was at dinner - one of the soups on offer was a cold soup - "Chilled Granny Smith and Cider Soup". Apart from the apple and cider it also contained yoghurt and calvados (apple brandy) and it was just delicious. Not that the rest of the meal was bad, far from it, but the soup was exceptional!
Friday 2 October 2015
Paul's birthday Cruise Day 3 - Thursday 1 October 2015 - at sea.
Morning
Woke up to similar confusion about the time as with yesterday, but worse today because I hadn't advanced the time on all my electronic things. The clocks were meant to go ahead another hour overnight, and I'm pretty sure that when I woke up it was around 7am based on this new time. Paul was still sound asleep so I let him sleep on - I'm typing this about an hour and a half later; I've had breakfast and checked out the activities for the day ahead, and Paul is still asleep.Afternoon
No real plans for today - we walked our 'mile and a bit' around the deck, lost a bit of money on the pokies, had some lunch, and are now lazing around reading - in the cabin / on the balcony. It's a beautiful day today and really hard to believe that w're on the run from bad weather - up on the top deck quite a few people are in the swimming pools and more lazing around. This is actually a pretty good ship for this sort of cruise - later in the season it will be really hot in the sun but there are quite a few places where you can laze around (and even swim) in the warmth but not in the direct sunlight.A few more random comments about the ship so far
- I've got no idea where all the people are. The ship is full, no question; they were boarding almost 2800 passengers in Sydney. I was a bit concerned that we'd find ourselves desperately hunting for a seat particularly in the Horizon Court (the buffet) and the coffee shop downstairs, since these are regular trouble spots, but no such issues so far.
- Another 'Japanese' touch - like most Princess ships there's an icecream bar where you can get free soft serve icecream in a cone. Often they only have two flavours - chocolate and vanilla. Here there's a third flavour - green tea. Yum.
Evening
Formal night tonight and we made the effort - Paul in suit and tie and me in (as I've talked about before) the sort of sparkly stuff that women agree to pretend is formal for the purposes of a cruise.We finally went to our proper dining room and met our table companions - very nice people; no doubt I'll talk about them some more during the trip.
For now though, nothing much else to say, we're doing our best to do as little as possible, and succeeding!
Thursday 1 October 2015
Paul's birthday Cruise Day 2 - 30 September 2015 - at sea.
Morning
I currently have no idea what the time is. We woke up when our watches still said around 6am, but according to the ship newsletter the clocks were supposed to go one hour ahead last night. There aren't many clocks visible around the ship, but the ones I can see aren't helping me - about half of them have been set ahead and the rest haven't.The time wouldn't normally worry me except for dinner - we have opted for Traditional dining, which means getting there at the right time. As it happens, we have a meal booked in a specialty restaurant tonight, but we still need to be there on time. Hopefully by then I'll know what time they really think it is!
We had breakfast at the buffet this morning, as usual when we're on a cruise. Then, also as usual, downstairs to one of the only three places on the ship where they make actual coffee. There's always coffee on offer in the dining rooms but it's that horrible American brewed concoction - Nestles instant would be better!! Then, we went for a walk around the Panorama deck - 2.5 times around the deck is a mile, so we did just over a mile this morning. Then, off to the Casino to ensure that the poker machines are working. They are; but very much in favour of Princess :-)
Currently mid-morning and I'm sitting on the balcony, typing up my ramblings and looking back over where we've been. Australia is way back that-a-way!!
The Diamond Princess has been coming to Australia for our summers for a long time now - the second cruise we ever took was back in 2008 for my 50th birthday (seems we've always got an excuse for a cruise!!) and it was Sydney to Auckland on this very ship. It used to spend the northern summers doing Alaska cruises but it spent the most recent one in Japan. They plan to continue doing this, so there have been a few alterations to the ship - for example a lot of the signs are in both English and Japanese, and I gather that some of the public toilets are of the really complex Japanese variety with multi functions and lots of electronic instructions - I'll have to see if I can track one down. And of course, since this is the first cruise of the Australian season, there are still some Japanese stores on board - this is currently what you get if you ask for Diet Coke:
Afternoon
Yesterday I talked about the forecast high seas and said that I thought we might miss Fiordland. Today the captain confirmed this, and it's a bit more dramatic than I thought. We will be missing Fiordland and also Dunedin; instead we will be going to Wellington as our first stop. They have since confirmed that the rest of the cruise is unchanged, so after Wellington we will then go south to Akaroa then turn around and come north to Picton then Tauranga, Auckland and Bay of Islands all as per the original itinerary.The captain also said that we will still get some "strong winds and moderate seas" and this all started this afternoon with a storm sneaking up on us - full scale thunder, lightning and driving rain.
This was the view from our balcony this morning:
And here it is this afternoon (the shot of the lightning is Paul's work)
From a purely selfish perspective, this did show what I had suspected and hoped - teeming down rain but our balcony was still dry and not too cold. Nice!!
Evening
Tonight we had the 'complimentary dinner for two in a specialty restaurant' that was part of the special deal Princess was running when we booked. There are three specialty restaurants on board, but you don't get to pick when or where the complimentary one happens. Ours was in the sushi restaurant (Kai Sushi), which we would never have picked (nor would most of the Aussies on board it appears, it never has many customers). However, apart from some communication issues - the waitress's command of English really isn't up to customer service levels, and we don't speak Japanese - we ended up with a surprisingly enjoyable meal. I think the words Nigiri and Sashimi came into play; lots of different fish, some octopus and other bits and pieces; all really tasty and quite filling. And, finished off with a desert of green tea icecream and red bean paste which sounds strange but was an excellent way to finish the meal.I have to apologise to my son too. Adam is an avid fan of sushi and as part of this has picked up a real liking for eel. He has tried to persuade me to eat it a couple of times, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. Turns out to be a big mistake on my part - one of the many things we had on our plate last night was eel and I ate both mine and Paul's.
In a social sense though, the meal was somewhat uncomfortable. Like in so many restaurant locations on board cruise ships, tables for two tend to be far too close together for a really private dinner. Last night they sat another couple at the next table almost immediately and we got a first-hand demonstration of the "well-cruised complainer". They wanted some wine, and there wasn't any of that type available even though there had been some in the dining room the previous night. They wanted the wine before the food, and snapped at the waitress when she tried to deliver some bean-type snacks to the table. After a while they gave up on the wine and asked for a gin and tonic, and then spent a few minutes discussing which sort of gin it would be and whether it would be any good. Then they complained to the restaurant manager about the wine again and made it clear that they had been on many cruises and that they often come across this issue and how unacceptable it is (as though this would somehow make the wine appear). I was very uncomfortable with the whole performance, and the tables are simply too close together to avoid hearing the whole thing. Fortunately you don't come across this sort of "we've cruised a lot so we're more important than everyone else" attitude, and usually you can escape by just walking away; not so here unfortunately.
Anyway, we finished off the night with some coffee downstairs - amazingly it wasn't too busy so we sat and drank it there and watched the world (and another storm) go by.
Before we went back to the cabin, I decided to check out the buffet upstairs to see if they had any cookies. I managed to bring four cookies back to the cabin but only after getting myself completely turned around again and walking the length of the ship twice. Good exercise anyway!!
Wednesday 30 September 2015
Paul's Birthday Cruise Day 1 - 29 September 2015 - travel to Sydney and board the Diamond Princess
Set the alarm clock for 5:30am and woke up earlier - possibly just a bit excited!
Taxi arrived on time, no hassles with the bus trip to Sydney although 3 1/2 hours is a long time to sit in one uncomfortable seat. Got a train to Circular Quay and dropped our suitcases off a little after 11:30am.
As "Platinum" cruisers with Princess, in theory we can board any time we like after boarding starts. However, they did set a time for each deck to board, and we decided to stick to that. So we went back to a restaurant we ate at before our last cruise, and had another delicious lunch there - along with a lot of people waiting to board the ship, many of whom didn't know that you could drop your suitcases off long before boarding time. Suitcases everywhere!
We also wandered around towards the Rocks to get a picture of the back of the ship - because this time we have an aft balcony cabin, so we'll be looking back at where we've been. These are really popular cabins and I can already see why - the balcony is huge compared to most and the view is really cool. If you click on this photo you should be able to see a red arrow pointing at our cabin.
The Platinum thing did give us really quick access to the ship though once we finally tried to board. There were five separate queues - to get into the building, to get up to the check in area, to actually check in, to go through Customs and to go through security. We got to bypass the first four queues - it took us about 20 minutes in total and by the look of the queues the normal time would have been more than an hour.
We found our cabin and then went for a walk around the ship, just trying to get our bearings again. Lost cause really, even though we have been on this ship before we still took some time to find everything. No real plans for this evening though; it's quite surprising that I'm even up for typing this because usually the Travacalm would have knocked me out by now.
Anyway, I'll post more about the ship over the next couple of days; sea days so we don't propose to do too much. If you don't see anything from me it's probably because the forecast I saw was correct - they were suggesting that around the time we get to New Zealand we'll be sailing through 10 metre waves!! Let's hope the forecast is mistaken (not just because of the potential for me to be drugged out with Travacalm) - waves that big would probably stop us from going into the Fiords and even though we've seen them before I'd be disappointed if we missed them.
Set the alarm clock for 5:30am and woke up earlier - possibly just a bit excited!
Taxi arrived on time, no hassles with the bus trip to Sydney although 3 1/2 hours is a long time to sit in one uncomfortable seat. Got a train to Circular Quay and dropped our suitcases off a little after 11:30am.
As "Platinum" cruisers with Princess, in theory we can board any time we like after boarding starts. However, they did set a time for each deck to board, and we decided to stick to that. So we went back to a restaurant we ate at before our last cruise, and had another delicious lunch there - along with a lot of people waiting to board the ship, many of whom didn't know that you could drop your suitcases off long before boarding time. Suitcases everywhere!
We also wandered around towards the Rocks to get a picture of the back of the ship - because this time we have an aft balcony cabin, so we'll be looking back at where we've been. These are really popular cabins and I can already see why - the balcony is huge compared to most and the view is really cool. If you click on this photo you should be able to see a red arrow pointing at our cabin.
The Platinum thing did give us really quick access to the ship though once we finally tried to board. There were five separate queues - to get into the building, to get up to the check in area, to actually check in, to go through Customs and to go through security. We got to bypass the first four queues - it took us about 20 minutes in total and by the look of the queues the normal time would have been more than an hour.
We found our cabin and then went for a walk around the ship, just trying to get our bearings again. Lost cause really, even though we have been on this ship before we still took some time to find everything. No real plans for this evening though; it's quite surprising that I'm even up for typing this because usually the Travacalm would have knocked me out by now.
Anyway, I'll post more about the ship over the next couple of days; sea days so we don't propose to do too much. If you don't see anything from me it's probably because the forecast I saw was correct - they were suggesting that around the time we get to New Zealand we'll be sailing through 10 metre waves!! Let's hope the forecast is mistaken (not just because of the potential for me to be drugged out with Travacalm) - waves that big would probably stop us from going into the Fiords and even though we've seen them before I'd be disappointed if we missed them.
Monday 10 August 2015
50 days until we're cruising again!
When I started writing this post it was "All of a sudden, today it's only 75 days until Paul's birthday cruise starts." Now it's 50 days to go, and I'm finally finishing it.....
Anyway, pretty much everything is sorted for Paul's birthday cruise. As I said before, the advantage of cruising from Sydney is the way you can avoid having to fly, with all the dramas of luggage weight limits and flight delays and everything else that goes along with flying. (Please don't get me started on the absolute mess Qantas has made of my trip to Auckland in December - all I can say is it's a good thing I decided to blow some money on renewing my Qantas Club membership, because I'm going to be spending more time than I want to in the Sydney one!)
The retirement I mentioned in the last post is looking more and more unlikely - mine that is; Paul is still pretty certain to be retiring some time next year. And unfortunately the lovely long cruise home is also looking unlikely - I still won't have enough leave, and the money is going to defeat us unless I can keep working.
So, the new plan is still to go to England again and spend a week or two there first. My main aim is not to break a bone while I'm there; I'd really like to not keep up my current 100% record!! Paul has some ideas of places to see while we're there, and I'm cool with wherever we go as long as I get to spend a little more time in London - there are a number of places I missed first and second time around.
Then, we'll still be hopping onto the same cruise ship at Southampton - the Emerald Princess, still leaving on 28 September 2016. However, instead of 49 days to Sydney, we'll be leaving the ship in Singapore, after 30 days, and flying home from there. Princess has a sale on at the moment, and even though it's only for new bookings, they allowed me to take advantage of the sale because they have the cruise to Singapore set up as a completely different cruise from the full trip to Sydney - hence, a "new booking". The new price was a surprisingly good deal, and it reduces the whole holiday to a (hopefully) manageable budget - as long as I go back to work afterwards - while still getting us to some of the most interesting places on the itinerary.
Not much more to say now, and based on my recent performance with updating the blog, I expect my next post to be from the balcony of the Diamond Princess on 29 September this year, waiting to leave for New Zealand!
Anyway, pretty much everything is sorted for Paul's birthday cruise. As I said before, the advantage of cruising from Sydney is the way you can avoid having to fly, with all the dramas of luggage weight limits and flight delays and everything else that goes along with flying. (Please don't get me started on the absolute mess Qantas has made of my trip to Auckland in December - all I can say is it's a good thing I decided to blow some money on renewing my Qantas Club membership, because I'm going to be spending more time than I want to in the Sydney one!)
The retirement I mentioned in the last post is looking more and more unlikely - mine that is; Paul is still pretty certain to be retiring some time next year. And unfortunately the lovely long cruise home is also looking unlikely - I still won't have enough leave, and the money is going to defeat us unless I can keep working.
So, the new plan is still to go to England again and spend a week or two there first. My main aim is not to break a bone while I'm there; I'd really like to not keep up my current 100% record!! Paul has some ideas of places to see while we're there, and I'm cool with wherever we go as long as I get to spend a little more time in London - there are a number of places I missed first and second time around.
Then, we'll still be hopping onto the same cruise ship at Southampton - the Emerald Princess, still leaving on 28 September 2016. However, instead of 49 days to Sydney, we'll be leaving the ship in Singapore, after 30 days, and flying home from there. Princess has a sale on at the moment, and even though it's only for new bookings, they allowed me to take advantage of the sale because they have the cruise to Singapore set up as a completely different cruise from the full trip to Sydney - hence, a "new booking". The new price was a surprisingly good deal, and it reduces the whole holiday to a (hopefully) manageable budget - as long as I go back to work afterwards - while still getting us to some of the most interesting places on the itinerary.
Not much more to say now, and based on my recent performance with updating the blog, I expect my next post to be from the balcony of the Diamond Princess on 29 September this year, waiting to leave for New Zealand!
Tuesday 24 March 2015
Retirement beckons..... maybe
Paul has no problem with the idea of retiring, but recently I have realised that I'm unlikely to ever do anything about it unless I force myself to take some action.
So this week, I have done two things - I've signed up for a pre-retirement seminar, and I've booked us on a cruise next year.
The cruise mightn't sound much like an encouragement to retire, but the thing is, I won't have enough leave to cover it. Sort of forcing a decision :-)
The plan is pretty simple this time - fly to London or Manchester, spend about a week in England, visit a couple of places, if your name is Sandra then don't break any bones!, finish up in Southampton.
Then, cruise home.
The cruise is called the "Four Continents Grand Adventure" and it leaves from Southampton on 29 September 2016. The ship is the Emerald Princess - it's normally based in the Mediterranean half the year and Caribbean for the rest, but this cruise breaks that cycle - instead it's spending the (southern) summer of 2016-17 based in Oz.
The cruise takes 48 days with lots of lovely sea days - and the ports of call are pretty interesting too. We sail into the Mediterranean and stop in Rome, Naples, and Messina in Italy, then through the Suez Canal. Next stop is Aqaba in Jordan so we can get to see Petra, followed by an overnight stay in Dubai - I can finally go to the Burj Khalifa and no doubt some other outrageously huge and over the top buildings! Then it's on to a few places I've never really considered visiting - Cochin in India; then Phuket, Singapore, Ko Samui, Bangkok, and Bali. After that, it's back on home territory with stops in Fremantle, Margaret River and Melbourne before arriving back in Sydney on 15 November 2016.
So, if anyone else feels like a long slow cruise, this one looks like an excellent plan!
So this week, I have done two things - I've signed up for a pre-retirement seminar, and I've booked us on a cruise next year.
The cruise mightn't sound much like an encouragement to retire, but the thing is, I won't have enough leave to cover it. Sort of forcing a decision :-)
The plan is pretty simple this time - fly to London or Manchester, spend about a week in England, visit a couple of places, if your name is Sandra then don't break any bones!, finish up in Southampton.
Then, cruise home.
The cruise is called the "Four Continents Grand Adventure" and it leaves from Southampton on 29 September 2016. The ship is the Emerald Princess - it's normally based in the Mediterranean half the year and Caribbean for the rest, but this cruise breaks that cycle - instead it's spending the (southern) summer of 2016-17 based in Oz.
The cruise takes 48 days with lots of lovely sea days - and the ports of call are pretty interesting too. We sail into the Mediterranean and stop in Rome, Naples, and Messina in Italy, then through the Suez Canal. Next stop is Aqaba in Jordan so we can get to see Petra, followed by an overnight stay in Dubai - I can finally go to the Burj Khalifa and no doubt some other outrageously huge and over the top buildings! Then it's on to a few places I've never really considered visiting - Cochin in India; then Phuket, Singapore, Ko Samui, Bangkok, and Bali. After that, it's back on home territory with stops in Fremantle, Margaret River and Melbourne before arriving back in Sydney on 15 November 2016.
So, if anyone else feels like a long slow cruise, this one looks like an excellent plan!
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