Water, water everywhere but we have alcohol to drink!

Another way to while away the day is to gather with good friends and have a drink…  Only cruising out of Australia will you find a group that will BYO fold up chairs…  Yes at drink o’clock ( 5pm ) at the back of deck 11,  the party faithful arrange their chairs, fill their glasses and debrief on the day’s Events

d so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.

Are we there yet!

There are lots of sea days between Sydney and Darwin, but as we sail upon this mill pond, we occasionally glimpse an island or two, especially the really big one on our Port side.

The Big Island - Australia

 Filling in the days has not been difficult, especially when it comes to organising our Cruise Critic events… I thought I had them all finalised, even sent out the notices for our gift swap, only to get the call that they have now scheduled the crossing the equator ceremony at the same time… back down to guest services for me, and yet another cabin drop for my Deck Angels.

We did have our first lunch the other day which was a roaring success.  Approximately 170 Pacific Circlers invaded the dining room.  The look on Sean, the Head Waiter’s face as the never ending stream of passengers passed by was priceless.

There is always trivia

Our Dinner Table

Slot pull..... we may not have been winners, but we were grinners.

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.

Day 3 We are still sailing...

 Now as we are moving further up the coast the weather is getting warmer and warmer… Apart from running around putting the finishing touches to the cruise critic timetable, I have had a chance to lie in the sun and get a bit of well needed colour.  Hmm did I mention how fashionable red is at the moment!!

For her age, the ship is looking pretty good… and yes, there is the occasional unpleasant aroma but the staff are quick to spray and freshen things up.

Vista Lounge

Kai Seafood

Kai Seafood and Share look lovely and very pristine, probably due to fact they are usually empty…  We will try Share. Share can either be done at a full cover charge, or you can pay “a la carte” (pay for what you eat). Our waiter Ricky, suggested we eat in the dining room then move to Share and have the Bread & Butter pudding for dessert …. Apparently it is to die for….

Share

Legends

Pool Deck

Captain Riky

Our Maître d Cristan displayed some theatrics by spraying a bottle of champagne like he had just won a Formula one… So ferocious was his spray, that a couple of the glasses went crashing to the ground.

Couldn’t start my lobster count today as it was not offered on the menu, nor was the traditional Châteaux Briand, but beef medallions…. Hang on, didn’t they use to be on the always available menu!!  On saying that we have been very happy with choices that we have made at each meal.

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess.

Day 2 We are Sailing..

It is amazing how it doesn’t take long to get back into cruising mode.  Once you are unpacked, and the bags are stored under the bed, it is like you have never been away.

Today is Meet and Greet day. The invites went out, so it was fingers crossed that Captain Ricky and his team would turn up.  With a sigh of relief, they came.  Although he had another appointment to rush off to, our Captain addressed the group and introduced each of his officers. 

We decided to re-introduce the Bloody Legends awards, and already we have a list of contenders, and of course, our first couple were sensible, like… Ray for his great effort on name tags and Marie for looking after our roll call so well.  But then being the loving wife, I had to give one to Garry for being such a great Wine Dropper!

Our meeting ended with a little get to know you game, well, as well as you can with around 200 people in the Marquis dining room. Everyone seemed happy enough with the way things turned out, except for Mr Grumpy Bridge Player as we broke his precious silence…

Unfortunately, we needed to have the medivac chopper come in and pick up a passenger with ulcer problems, but the captain later told us that he was ok and the rumour mill has it that he will back..

Day 1 Embarkation Day.

Excitement or nerves, not sure which has been keeping me awake the last few nights.  Was it the actual cruise or pleasing 200 cruise critic members at the first meet and greet.

The time between 3.30 am and 7 am ticked by.  After checking the Sydney Ports Vessel movements, the temptation to head down to the water’s edge to watch the Sun Princess sail in at 4.45 was just not an option….

So instead we headed down at 8 am to Pyrmont Point park where we couldn’t believe how close the ship we were… We could have swum across, but I don’t think the bags would float!!

So just like everyone else we caught a taxi to White Bay…  We counted the bags off as we loaded them into the Cab. Made ourselves comfortable and off we went.  Just as we drove out the driveway Garry turns to me and says “Have you got my camera”.  Round the block we went back into the drive way and out jumped Garry.  Our good hearted taxi driver must of felt sorry for us and paused his meter.  Now those of you who cruised with us in 2014 may have remembered that Garry nearly left his camera behind that time too ….. it was déjà vu

After depositing all the luggage with porters, we along with our two cases of wine headed into the terminal and straight into the check-in lines.

Boarding times were staggered, but as the queue was non-existent they allowed us through…  Except for the check-in agent adamant that we would not be able to debark in Vladivostok for we had no visa (amateur’s) the rest went smoothly.

Now to all my fellow co-workers, you know at debark that there is always that one person who breaks their bottle of alcohol… how embarrassing, that was us at embark.  We zigged zagged around those dreaded bollards and  as the edge of one of the boxes clipped one it dislodged the strap and like humpty dumpty the box went tumbling down. The fruity aroma of our sauvignon blanc  wafted through the terminal and we prayed that only one bottle broke, but we were too scared to check inside the box.  Buckets, mops and red faces were the order of the day and with a giggle from our immigration officer she commented “what a waste, but it smells nice”

Apart from us, the Apass photo’s was causing a delay in embarkation. To keep the Koreans happy all photos were taken in front of a white screen with rules that made getting our passport photo’s easy.

Any way it was a great opportunity to get to know the people in line.  This caused a knock on effect as the terminal got busier and the queue got longer and  some didn’t board till after muster.

Sail away from Sydney was as magical as it always is.  Apart from the melodic sounds of the sail away party, the ship glided out from the pier and the silence was only broken when we neared the harbour bridge and the Captain sounded the horn not once, not twice but as with tradition, three times.

And so it is “Sea La Vie” from the beautiful Sun Princess. 

Bogof Mondays... More Like Bugger off Mondays...

A little tradition that has evolved over the years is the pre cruise dinner at the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel…  There was a lot anticipation for tonight and we had 50 people who were happy to come along. 

We manage to fill most of the top floor dining area and as everyone arrived we gathered out on the Terrace just in time for Happy Hour. On arrival we were told being Bogof Monday the special for the night was buy one meal get one free….

You can imagine everyone’s shock when we went to order only to be charged full price…  Of course we question this only to be told “you are a large group you can’t have it”…. If we walked down to the other levels we could order the special but as soon the manager cottoned on and banned the staff from allowing us to order anywhere but the bar on our level.

Well it is a shame as everyone did have a great night regardless with lots of laughter and a little frivolity… 

So Shame Oscar Shame, you have lost any future business from us

NB: I have just received an email from Big Manager Andy apologizing for the miscommunication between himself and Oscar.

Ship Happens!

This week we headed into the city to have dinner with friends… what type of friends you ask... what else, cruising friends of course, and what is the first thing you do when you know you are heading into the city?  Like a true tragic you look up the Sydney Ports Cruise Schedule!

Well lo and behold which ship is in, non-other but our Sun Princess.  This was an opportunity to grab some extra footage of the ship sailing out from a land perspective. We timed it so that we would be at Barangaroo just as she sails out of White Bay…

What a wonderful job they had done with Barangaroo.  Turning a once ugly looking area into a beautiful green headland with large honey coloured sandstone blocks terraced so that you can step right down to the water’s edge.

We positioned ourselves in a perfect spot to capture the Sun Princess as she moved away from the wharf and entered the water way which would lead her out under the bridge, pass the Opera House and through the Heads out into the open sea.

Tick tick tick tick, we waited… due to leave at 4 pm, but maybe 4.15 or 4.30.  We are getting a little anxious now as our meeting time with our friends was 5 pm at King St Wharf…  We watched as the real sun started to set and the sky changed colours in hues of reds and oranges. Our eyes searched for any indication of movement to encourage us to stay just that little bit longer… But alas nothing…

At 4.45pm we were done, we had to leave… as we made our back down the street, we kept looking back just in case she was sailing… No longer able to walk along the waterfront we walked up into Hickson Rd and zigged zagged through the maze of construction barriers …  and of course what happens, as soon as we step out from the Streets of Barangaroo we see her gliding pass us, probably snickering that she snuck out while we were not watching… 

Oh well… we have 2 more opportunities to grab more footage… cause after that, it will be our turn.