Not much to say about today - another quiet day consisting of not much more than eating, reading, lazing around with the only real point of interest being the sea which is still a little rough and bumpy.....
Although I did get some bad news late in the day - my shore excursion at Akaroa has been cancelled. I was really looking forward to this - it was all about choosing and cooking fish and seafood, but not enough people had booked it so they cancelled.
The only other excursion which interests me is a trip to go on the Southern Alps Express which is apparently spectacular - but it apparently involves 5 hours on a bus in order to spend less time than that on the train. And, for Paul and I to both go, it would cost the best part of $1000 which is an outrageous amount of money compared to the actual train fare. So, we might wait until we come to New Zealand to travel around on land, and try it out then.
Tuesday, 12 February 2019
New Zealand Cruise - Majestic Princess - Day 5 Sunday 10 February - Tauranga
Beautiful day in Tauranga - well, Mount Manganui is actually where the port is. We had no plans apart from walking around the town again, which we did. Then we returned to the ship for some more peace and quiet on top of all the previous peace and quiet.
At dinner, the Captain announced that the sea will be fairly rough this evening, and he was correct. Not scary or anything, but the sort of rock and roll that makes it feel like you're better off lying down so you don't fall :-)
At dinner, the Captain announced that the sea will be fairly rough this evening, and he was correct. Not scary or anything, but the sort of rock and roll that makes it feel like you're better off lying down so you don't fall :-)
Saturday, 9 February 2019
New Zealand Cruise - Majestic Princess - Day 4 Saturday 9 February - Auckland
Arrived here at around midday, as planned. The Norwegian Jewel was already docked; turns out they're staying here overnight and don't leave until tomorrow afternoon.
We were hoping to go to our regular coffee shop, but it wasn't there any more - a different coffee chain had taken over and it was closed for the day!
As it happens we didn't really need a coffee anyway. We wanted to pick up SIM cards for our phones and tablets to last us for the rest of the cruise. The Spark store we'd normally go to seemed to be closed - HEAPS of building work going on around Auckland (including a new underground train system) and the shopping centre we'd normally go to seems to be completely closed while being renovated. Anyway, the Spark store we found had a coffee shop inside. We weren't going to have a coffee there, but they were having computer trouble and the young lady who was serving us shouted us a coffee while we waited. It was a really good coffee, and I didn't think we had to wait all that long anyway. Overall a very efficient and happy experience.
We also found a food hall which had more Asian style food stores than I've ever seen in one place - it smelled absolutely delicious! Paul has some Thai food which was apparently quite good; I ended up just having a pie - also good if not particularly Asian.
Here's the obligatory picture of (part of) the ship with our cabin circled:
I might try to get a picture of the whole ship when we're in port somewhere else; it really is quite large!
We were hoping to go to our regular coffee shop, but it wasn't there any more - a different coffee chain had taken over and it was closed for the day!
As it happens we didn't really need a coffee anyway. We wanted to pick up SIM cards for our phones and tablets to last us for the rest of the cruise. The Spark store we'd normally go to seemed to be closed - HEAPS of building work going on around Auckland (including a new underground train system) and the shopping centre we'd normally go to seems to be completely closed while being renovated. Anyway, the Spark store we found had a coffee shop inside. We weren't going to have a coffee there, but they were having computer trouble and the young lady who was serving us shouted us a coffee while we waited. It was a really good coffee, and I didn't think we had to wait all that long anyway. Overall a very efficient and happy experience.
We also found a food hall which had more Asian style food stores than I've ever seen in one place - it smelled absolutely delicious! Paul has some Thai food which was apparently quite good; I ended up just having a pie - also good if not particularly Asian.
Here's the obligatory picture of (part of) the ship with our cabin circled:
New Zealand Cruise - Majestic Princess - Day 3 Friday 8 February - at sea
Very quiet day today - got up late and did very little. We did confirm that there isn't really a good walking path around the ship, which is somewhat disappointing.
Caught up with a movie that was showing on our previous cruise as part of the Sydney Film Festival, but that we missed at the time. The film is called "Juliet, Naked" and it was really quite good.
Caught up with a movie that was showing on our previous cruise as part of the Sydney Film Festival, but that we missed at the time. The film is called "Juliet, Naked" and it was really quite good.
Thursday, 7 February 2019
New Zealand Cruise - Majestic Princess - Day 2 Thursday 7 February - at sea
Last night we had to set the clocks forward an hour, but we still managed to wake up in time for breakfast. We had both breakfast and lunch at the "World Fresh Marketplace" - aka "the buffet upstairs". Both meals were quite good; nice range of different sorts of food.
Quiet day today as usual on sea days - the biggest decision we made was to sit out on the balcony and read for a while. We did happen to be walking near the Piazza (the big atrium area mid-ships) when the ship was being blessed as part of a Chinese New Year celebration so we stayed to watch. The dancers were all from the Canberra Dragon Dance group!
The clocks go forward another hour tonight; I never have any idea what time it is once this starts to happen on a cruise because my Kindle, iPad, iPhone and Surface all seem to react differently to attempts to lie to them about the time! Perhaps I should have bought a non-digital watch with me :-)
Quiet day today as usual on sea days - the biggest decision we made was to sit out on the balcony and read for a while. We did happen to be walking near the Piazza (the big atrium area mid-ships) when the ship was being blessed as part of a Chinese New Year celebration so we stayed to watch. The dancers were all from the Canberra Dragon Dance group!
The clocks go forward another hour tonight; I never have any idea what time it is once this starts to happen on a cruise because my Kindle, iPad, iPhone and Surface all seem to react differently to attempts to lie to them about the time! Perhaps I should have bought a non-digital watch with me :-)
New Zealand Cruise - Majestic Princess - Day 1 Wednesday 6 February - embarking
As usual, our taxi arrived on time so my built-in 'contingency for delays' wasn't needed and we arrived at the station quite early. There was another group of passengers already there waiting for the train and they told us they were also heading off for the cruise.
Train trip was the usual 'slow and boring but far more comfortable than the bus' trip.
Arrived in Sydney and went down to Circular Quay to drop off our luggage - it was too early for our allocated boarding time - before heading off for food and then to try to find a back-rest for Paul to use on the ship. Turns out we really needed to think of this earlier, as none of the obvious places in Sydney actually stock them in their city stores.
We got back to the ship for check-in at our allocated time - 2pm - and it was the quickest boarding ever. Looks like most people completely ignored the boarding schedule sent out by Princess and were already onboard, so there were basically no queues anywhere.
Got up to our cabin and the suitcases were already there so we had time to unpack and have a quick shower - it was hot and sticky in Sydney - before being called to the muster drill.
We actually got to see the sail-away today - we always seem to be leaving at dinner time but this time we left not long after 4pm.
We said farewell to the Opera House
and Kirribilli:
but then we both fell asleep; next thing I knew we had already sailed out through the heads and I just saw the cliffs behind us as we sailed away:
We were awake in time for dinner which is at the outrageously early 5:15pm. At least this cruise we appear to have two table-mates, a couple of similar ages to us who come from Adelaide.
Dinner was nice although the menu is a bit predictable since it's not that long ago that we cruised with Princess. After dinner, we just went and lost some money on the pokies and then crashed - it's a long day when you start at 4:30am (and you're old like us!!)
Train trip was the usual 'slow and boring but far more comfortable than the bus' trip.
Arrived in Sydney and went down to Circular Quay to drop off our luggage - it was too early for our allocated boarding time - before heading off for food and then to try to find a back-rest for Paul to use on the ship. Turns out we really needed to think of this earlier, as none of the obvious places in Sydney actually stock them in their city stores.
We got back to the ship for check-in at our allocated time - 2pm - and it was the quickest boarding ever. Looks like most people completely ignored the boarding schedule sent out by Princess and were already onboard, so there were basically no queues anywhere.
Got up to our cabin and the suitcases were already there so we had time to unpack and have a quick shower - it was hot and sticky in Sydney - before being called to the muster drill.
We actually got to see the sail-away today - we always seem to be leaving at dinner time but this time we left not long after 4pm.
We said farewell to the Opera House
and Kirribilli:
but then we both fell asleep; next thing I knew we had already sailed out through the heads and I just saw the cliffs behind us as we sailed away:
We were awake in time for dinner which is at the outrageously early 5:15pm. At least this cruise we appear to have two table-mates, a couple of similar ages to us who come from Adelaide.
Dinner was nice although the menu is a bit predictable since it's not that long ago that we cruised with Princess. After dinner, we just went and lost some money on the pokies and then crashed - it's a long day when you start at 4:30am (and you're old like us!!)
Wednesday, 6 February 2019
Off on our next cruise and never did finish writing up the last one
Well, that was slack of me - I'm pretty sure I wrote up notes for the last few days of our December cruise but obviously didn't get around to posting them.
And, with all the excitement of my new job, I haven't done any updates since either!
Today we're off to Sydney and joining the Majestic Princess for a cruise to New Zealand - let's see if I can do better with this one :-)
And, with all the excitement of my new job, I haven't done any updates since either!
Today we're off to Sydney and joining the Majestic Princess for a cruise to New Zealand - let's see if I can do better with this one :-)
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