Solar Eclipse - post-cruise report

Obviously, I didn't keep the blog up to date while we were away - here are the highlights.

Flight to Perth on Saturday 15 April - I put in a bid for an upgrade to business class which was accepted.  Much cheaper than an actual business class fare, so we were quite pleased as it's a long flight - more than four hours in that direction (return flight is faster because of the prevailing winds).

We pre-booked a transfer from the airport to our hotel in Perth, as we were arriving quite late anyway.  All went well, as did checking into the hotel.  As I think I mentioned earlier, I would have preferred to stay in Fremantle, but by the time we knew we were definitely going on this trip, there weren't any hotel rooms available within decent range of the port - not for less than an arm and a leg anyway!.  So, we stayed in the Perth CBD, at Citadines in St Georges Terrace.

On the Sunday we went for a walk around the CBD.  During the walk we became aware that the Perth Mint had issued a commemorative coin to celebrate the eclipse.  Of course we then went to the Mint, but they had sold out long before.  (Later, I bought one online - normally wouldn't have done so as the person selling it made themselves a significant profit, but it's the sort of thing Adam would have loved.)  We also walked down to Elizabeth Quay, found a couple of stores of interest to Paul (Tactics and White Dwarf books)  and saw a few other sights around the town.

Monday was a long day - we had to check out of the hotel before 11am, but couldn't check in to the cruise until 5:30pm (a very late departure).  We decided to go on the train which worked really well - quite cheap and comfortable.  It's about a 750 metre walk from the train station to the cruise ship which isn't that much fun in the heat and dragging suitcases, so we decided to get the free shuttle that they put on every time a cruise ship is in port.  And, they let us drop off our suitcases so we could then just wander around Fremantle until later.  We decided to go back to the ship at around 3pm and this was a good plan as the cruise terminal is quite a comfortable place to wait compared to some - looking at you, Sydney Overseas Passenger Terminal!! - and boarding started earlier than planned, so we were onboard by about 5pm.

This was definitely not your normal P&O cruise - obviously there were lots of people who were there only for the eclipse and so lots of new cruisers.  Also lots of kids because it was school holiday time - but overall they were pretty well-behaved (or if not, they played up where we didn't see them!!).

They parked the ship quite close to Exmouth for the eclipse - close enough that we could get mobile coverage, which is always a bonus (the ship's internet is slow and not secure so a bit risky for checking bank accounts etc).  The weather was just perfect - almost no wind, and no clouds at all.

The eclipse was really interesting although not completely what I expected.  I had gotten the impression that it would get quite "night-time" dark, but it didn't - however it was quite obvious that the eclipse was happening.  P&O had organised for everyone to have filters we could use to watch the eclipse, and it was easy to see how people in the past could have thought that a dragon was eating the sun.  And, during totality when it's safe to look at the sun without protection, it was just amazing to see!

Once the eclipse was completely over, they had to hot-foot it back to Fremantle - as a result the trip back was a little bumpier but no problems for us (Paul almost never gets seasick, and I learned years ago to take sea-sickness tablets the first night and the next day, and then I'm usually okay too).

We were due to leave the ship with the 8:55am departure group (Saturday 22 April) but again P&O was running ahead of schedule so we were booted off about an hour early :-) 

Again, we decided to get the shuttle to the train station and a train back into the city.  Staying at the same hotel as before the cruise, and they held our baggage until we were able to check in.  While waiting we went to the Museum of Western Australia which had quite a lot of really interesting exhibits. Dinner tonight was one of the best take-way Chinese meals we've had in a long time - from a simple looking place near the hotel called Fine Asian Kitchen.

Sunday 23rd we had a full day in Perth, but both of us had caught some sort of minor respiratory thing on the ship - not Covid, but enough to slow us down.  So, our visit to Kings Park has been delayed until our next visit (currently planned for September 2024 at the end of another cruise).  Instead, Paul went for another walk around the shops, and I did a random train trip to Armadale and back on the train just to see what I could see.  Overall impression - there aren't many hills around Perth!  Dinner tonight was Italian - at the Simple Italian restaurant - really good food. 

Monday 24th was our trip home, and this time my attempt at an upgrade to business class wasn't successful.  However, the wait at the airport was comfortable enough (as I'm a Qantas Club member) and the flight wasn't too bad - as I said above, the flight back is much faster due to prevailing winds.  And for a change, we got an economy class meal that was quite edible (meatballs and pasta).  Arrived back in CBR early, and got home with no real dramas.  

In summary - lots of things to bring back memories of Adam both on and off the ship - so, enjoyment tinged with sadness.

 

Perth and the "Ningaloo King of Eclipses" cruise

Well, nine very sad months have elapsed since I last updated the blog in July 2022.  Before I updated it today, the “upcoming holidays” list at the top of the page was:

17 April 2023 - Adam is cruising from Fremantle to see the solar eclipse.
4 October 2023 - Paul and Sandy are flying to England for a "Search for the Northern Lights" cruise.
5 February 2024 - Paul and Sandy are doing another New Zealand cruise.

Long before I wrote that blog post on 10 July 2022, Adam had booked his cabin on the eclipse cruise and was really looking forward to it, and was also already planning to go to the USA again in April 2024 to see another total solar eclipse.

We had known about the lump in Adam’s leg since late May 2022, and following some initial investigations (which had been done before the Carirns cruise) he had an appointment to see a surgeon at the Calvary hospital on 12 July.  After that appointment and some more tests, he got the devastating news that it was cancer (specifically, leiomyosarcoma), that it had already metastasised to four different places in his body and that it was beyond surgical help.  

A few months later and despite chemotherapy and other treatment, Adam needed a wheelchair to get around, and P&O kindly agreed to let me join him on the cruise so I could help him (no extra cost because a single person on most cruises is already paying two fares anyway). 

But of course, even that didn’t happen, as Adam lost his life to cancer on 8 January 2023. 

P&O then agreed to change the booking so that Paul and I could go on the Eclipse cruise in memory of Adam – again, generous of them because their rules say that booking changes can only happen if at least one person from the original booking stays on it, but they waived the rule for us.  (We could still have booked the cruise separately for ourselves, but the price by that time was much higher – and there wouldn’t have been a refund of Adam’s and my earlier fare either).

And of course, while Adam was ill, we cancelled the Search for the Northern Lights cruise as we were assuming that he would still be with us but that he might still need us to be here to help him get around.  Sadly, it turned out not to be.

So, anyway, I’m writing this as we’re just finishing our packing for the trip – later this evening we’re flying to Perth for the Eclipse cruise.  It’s something new for us, as neither of us have ever actually experienced a total solar eclipse – although sometimes it felt like I had because of all of Adam’s previous experiences of them 😊 .   

Paul has also never been to Perth before, and I’ve only been there once for work (in the early 1990s) and didn’t see anything apart from the state headquarters of the Dept of Social Security – not so exciting.  And for both of us, our experiences of Fremantle consist of a few hours there one afternoon – should have been a whole day but the cruise ship's arrival was delayed.   

Hopefully we’ll get a chance to look around tomorrow and Monday (the ship doesn’t sail until 9pm) and after we return (we get back on Saturday 22^nd and aren’t flying home until the Monday).

 

Cairns Cruise - the final story

 As expected, we visited Willis Island and then sailed back to Brisbane.  Weather was pretty poor for a lot of the trip, but was nice and sunny again by the time we got back to Brisbane - although still quite cool by Brisbane standards.  Overall, a very nice "first cruise" after such a long break.

Disembarkation went pretty well - we were among the last ones to leave as we had managed to book ourselves onto the second-last departure group, which ended up being the last one.

Had a LONG wait for a taxi, but it was quite well organised given the number of people who were looking to get one.  Taxi drivers are still learning the ropes of the new terminal of course - this was only the third cruise to finish at the cruise terminal, so for lots of drivers it was their first time there.  And, although the signage is really good all through Pinkenba to tell you how to get to the terminal, it's pretty clear that once you actually get there, it's more than a bit confusing about exactly where each sort of vehicle should go.  I'd imagine this will eventually sort itself out.

We ended up getting a taxi into the city, and then a train to Oxley where - after some confusion - Jay picked us up.  We were able to check into one of the rooms at our motel and leave our suitcases there, and then off to Natara's place which although isn't a quick drive is only a few minutes walk from the motel.

Had a good get-together with the family; a lovely farewell to Mother with lots of happy memories being shared.  

Afterwards, off to the motel.  Quite an old-fashioned place which really is only suitable if you have a car, there are no shops anywhere near.  They do have a "restaurant" which is just a few sad tables in a room, but they'll deliver the food to your room as well, which is what we opted for.  Paul didn't feel like eating, but my Chicken Schnitzel was perfectly acceptable.

Next day (Monday) the three of us went our separate ways.  First I got a taxi to the airport and headed home as I needed to get back to work.  Later, Al picked up Paul and Adam (after getting lost; it's definitely not an easy place to find!) then dropped Adam off at the station.  Adam stayed in the city until the Friday while Paul stayed at Al's until the Saturday.  Both of them had a good time, although Adam's return home was marred by a really significant flight delay - he was due to leave Brisbane around 5pm and be in Canberra by 7pm, but we walked back into the house only a few minutes before 11pm.

Great holiday, now looking forward to November and our next two cruises!

Cairns Cruise Day 4 & 5 - Cairns

 We were meant to have a day in Cairns on Wednesday followed by a day in Port Douglas on Thursday.  Paul and I have both been to both places, so we didn't book any shore excursions - the idea was just to wander around and look at the shops etc.  

High point was meant to be dinner at the Waterbar & Grill Steakhouse in Cairns.  And it really was a high point - good service and great food.  Got back to the ship to receive a message that we weren't going to Port Douglas due to the weather - this ship can't dock anywhere at Port Douglas and the wind was going to make it too dangerous to use the tenders.  So, we stayed in Cairns overnight.  The weather on Thursday was overcast and really humid, with occasional rain, so I just had another walk around town and then Paul and I went to the casino.  Came out a few dollars ahead too!

Leaving at about 6pm tonight - out to Willis Island to make it legal for the duty-free stores onboard to open, and then straight back to Brisbane.

Cairns Cruise Day 3 - Airlie Beach

 Arrived off Airlie Beach on time this morning.  Of course it's a tender port meaning that you have to use one of the ship's tenders (a.k.a. lifeboats) to get from the ship to the dock.  They're never particularly comfortable, but in the end they didn't use the tenders today - apparently it was too windy.  So instead they got a couple of local boats that are usually used for reef tours - far more comfortable.

Adam and I (Sandy) went on a shore excursion which was a sight-seeing flight over the reef.  I really should know better,  because even though I took my travel sickness medication I was feeling just a bit blah by the time the flight was over.  Got better fairly quickly though, although the next concern was that we couldn't find the dock to go back to the ship!  Eventually did though, so all good.  Paul didn't come with us, he did go ashore to look around and do some shopping.

It's about 9pm as I'm writing this, and we're now heading for Cairns.  The ship is getting a bit of a rock and roll going, and the waves forecast on the BOM website implies we could have anything up to 5 metre waves over the next few days, which could be just a bit nasty.

Anyway, off to get a load of laundry sorted and then I think I'll make an early night of it

First post-COVID cruise!

 Well, more than two years later, it has finally happened!

And I was so excited I completely forgot about doing updates until now - day 2 of the cruise.

So, this started last Saturday - 25 June - with an early morning departure from Canberra.  QANTAS is unfortunately getting a bad reputation at the moment for delayed / cancelled flights and for luggage going missing.  So, I bought a four-pack of Apple Air-Tags - one for each suitcase and an extra for my keys, just so we'd be able to check on things. Not that it would help them appear if they were left behind of course, just that we'd know for sure where they were if they did fail to appear. 

As it happened, the flight was on time, and I even saw my suitcase get loaded onto the plane.  And, I definitely saw Paul's and Adam's on the trailer waiting to be loaded up.  Imagine my unhappiness when we got to Brisbane and my phone told me that my suitcase was with us, but that Paul's and Adam's were back in Canberra.  But I then realised that it was also telling me that my Apple Watch was also back in Canberra, even though the watch was no longer in airplane mode, was fully connected up to my phone and sitting about 3 cm away from it!   Luggage was fine in the end, it had all made its way onto the plane and offloaded quite quickly.

We tried a new place to stay this time - in the Quest Apartment Hotel at Ascot.  Any time the three of us are traveling together an apartment is usually a cost-effective option for a bit of comfort.  This one was interesting  - they booked it for us as a two-bedroom apartment, but it's actually a one-bedroom apartment and a separate studio apartment that they can either book separately or as a two-bedroom apartment with a single front door. So, this meant that Adam had a completely separate room or could join us for food etc.  The people running the place were really helpful and friendly - for a start, they pointed us at a really good bistro for dinner.  Overall though, although the apartments are clean and functional, my overwhelming impression of the place was that the rooms are in desperate need of renovation - e.g. 70's colours.  Still, it was a convenient place to stay and a LOT cheaper than a two-bedroom apartment closer to the city.

Sunday morning I had to rectify an error on my part - realised that I had cleverly bought my toothpaste and the bottom half of my toothbrush, but not the actual brush!  Fortunately there's a Woolies about 600 metres away from the apartments so I was able to get a new one. Also picked up a few extra pairs of socks because although I was sure I had packed enough, I could only find one pair.  I now have many, many socks as of course they were all there, in my suitcase, where I had packed them!

Taxi arrived on time and drove us through the depths of Pinkenba out to the new terminal. Boarding went really well - we were supposed to be in the first boarding group at 11am, but we arrived early as we had to leave the apartment by 10am and it was only about 15km to the cruise terminal.  There were already heaps of people there to check in as we arrived, and they must have got the previous lot off the ship really quickly because we were all being allowed to board as soon as we got through check-in and security.  So, onboard and in our cabins by around 11am.

As for the ship itself, in a lot of ways it is just like we were never away.  The only real difference is the need to carry a mask because there are place on board where you can't socially distance and so mask wearing is mandatory.  Most people seem to be following that requirement in most places. 

Food is a little different - maybe not quite as many items in the main dining room menu or in the buffet.  But, the buffet is self-service which wasn't the case for a lot of places where cruising restarted last year.  They're quite insistent on mask-wearing and hand-washing to get into the buffet though, which is a good thing.  One good thing about food - clearly they have invested a lot of time and effort into upgrading the way you get food and drinks - they now have an App where you can order food or drinks to your room or wherever you happen to be sitting around the ship, and they bring it to you.  We've used it for room service twice now, with excellent results!  I guess that they're quite keen to avoid physical queues whenever they can.

A bit disappointed that although we said we would share a table at dinner, the fact that we have made bookings for each night seems to mean that we're going to be seated by ourselves.  Still, not the end of the world.  And it does mean that even though tonight is "formal night" we'll get away with just good casual clothes again.

And, the good news is that I only needed one sea-sickness tablet last night and this morning had totally found my sea-legs.  And, the same for Adam.  Paul of course hardly ever needs any medication and this time was no different.

That's all for now.  tomorrow is our first port of call - Airlie Beach.  Adam and I are going on a shore excursion while Paul might go ashore just to have a look around.  Hopefully I'll remember to report on this tomorrow night.

Hopefully the last COVID-19 update

Following on from the previous post - Princess did get in touch with us, and we have cabins on the 26 June cruise.  

Adam in particular got a fairly good deal from them. Cruising solo is never cheap - on Princess you basically pay the price for two people if you want a cabin to yourself (and most other cruise lines are the same).  But he got a balcony cabin next to ours for a price that's noticeably lower than the prices they're offering on their website.

As I'm writing this, it's 84 days until the cruise is due to leave.  And although it's looking far more promising than the 17 (!!) previous cruise bookings that I have had cancelled due to COVID-19, there are still issues to be sorted.

Main one is that the State governments need to come to an agreement with the cruise lines about onboard protocols.  I don't think this will be a huge issue - most of the mainstream cruise lines have been operating out of the USA for almost a year now under ever-evolving COVID-19 protocols, and I'd imagine that the State governments here aren't going to come up with anything more onerous than the USA CDC guidelines were when cruising restarted there.  I'd expect that they'll want all passengers and crew to be fully vaccinated (and actually the Australian Government announcement when they lifted the ban said that will be mandatory at the Federal level anyway), they might want us to take a test before boarding, they'll probably want us to wear masks when we board and leave the ship and maybe in crowded areas onboard.  I can live with all of this.