My fifth cruise will be remembered for a whole lot of reasons, but mostly for the fun we got out of the little memories we created. I boarded the Sea Princess with my 91 year young Aunt Dympna, my eldest sister Gemma, and youngest sister Ret. It was an 11 day cruise that departed from Brisbane (but not before we had a welcome champagne on Deck 12) and we sailed out under the Gateway Bridge.
Gem and I shared a balcony cabin on the 11th deck, which was next door to Dympna and Ret's. We had the balcony door between our two cabins removed, and each morning our day started with the 4 of us having a cup of tea or coffee, our feet up on the rails, and planning the day ahead.
Our first port was Vila (Vanuatu). We were having our morning coffee on the balcony as we neared the island, and we were welcomed with the beautiful rainbow you can see below.
In Vila (the best shopping of all the ports) we caught a taxi from the Wharf into town, and on advice from other previous travellers, we headed straight to the yellow duty free shop right at the end of town. We picked up some great bargains, especially duty-free alcohol, and then headed next door to sit at a seaside cafe to have morning tea and enjoy the 'aura'. We could see our ship in the background, which was reassuring! The locals were lovely people and all understood English.
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| Sights of Suva (that is our white ship in the back, top right corner of the cafe photo with Gem, Dympna and Ret) |
It was hot and humid at all four port stops, so we were always keen to get back to the mother ship and relax in the airconditioning or the pool. We wore our bathers into Suva expecting to be able to swim in the sea, but the beaches were far away from the town centre. So as soon as we returned to the ship we headed to the pool area. This hot (warm) tub was nice, but we ended up in the cooler larger pool to refresh ourselves.
Every day Dympna, Ret and I played rummicub while Gemma caught up on her book reading. Given all the food and wine we enjoyed on board, we should have paid many visits to the gym and walked around the promenade deck regularly. However, we took some photos just for fun...we kept our weight down by taking the stairs rather than the lifts. We were on the 11th floor and our main dining room was on the 6th floor.
At Port Denarau (Fiji) we caught the tender to the dock, and walked around the shops - most items were overpriced and nothing much took my fancy. We did see this unusual set of mens jeans attached to a pot plant on this bench, so couldn't resist taking the photo on the left. I thought Ret was a little too 'fresh' with her 'man'.
We had dinner in the formal dining room most nights. Our table was just for the 4 of us, and our waiters Enrique and Felix were from the Philippines. They were very attentive and spoilt us rotten. The photo at the right is us at our usual table. Sometimes we also dined in the formal dining room for breakfast or lunch, and usually got a window seat to enjoy the view.
On the second last night we had a delicious lobster dinner, and on the last night one of the menu choices was black shell mussels. Ret ordered those, and instead of just bringing one plate full, he bought a second plate of them. We all shared them, and they were delicious.
One morning I woke around 5am and noticed a pretty gold colour outside - this was the scene from the balcony - the funny shaped clouds were on the horizon, and the gold/pink colours were beautiful. My iPhone photo does not do the scene justice. I would have got out my proper camera, but it was in my drawer and I would have woken Gemma with my actions.
Our days were very lazy which was just what the doctor ordered. Some days after lunch we retired to our cabins to read a book and have a nap, or watch a movie on TV. Then we went somewhere for afternoon tea and played rummicub. We saw a few enjoyable movies - our favourite was the movie 'The Grand Seduction' - a story set in Canada about a remote seaside village needing to entice a doctor to come and live in the community. The actors were nobodies, but if you get a chance to see the movie, you won't regret it. Very entertaining. We also enjoyed seeing Nicole Kidman in Princess Grace of Monaco - we had no idea of all the politics involved in her position as Princess. We also saw Colin Firth in 2 movies: The Girl with a Pearl Earring (Gemma and I had read the book) with Scarlett Johansson, and Magic in the Moonlight with Emma Stone. Colin Firth played a good role in both movies. We also saw a few night shows which were fantastic. They have top class entertainment on cruise ships, and we were not disappointed on this one.
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| Ret and I cooling off - Isle of Pines |
Our last port was Isle of Pines (New Caledonia) and this cruise was the first one that Princess provided tours to. We didn't do a tour, however we all caught the tender over and spent an hour or so walking around the village. Ret and I couldn't resist a swim in the ocean.
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| The beach in the background is where Ret and I swam |
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| Panorama taken on Isle of Pines - Dympna, Ret and Gemma are on the right - walking away |
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| Collection of photos from onboard - top right photo is of the outdoor cinema |
A few days before we were due to return to Brisbane, we heard about the nasty cyclone Marcia that was heading to cross our path. On Friday the Captain made an announcement with his decision to try and reach the shelter of Brisbane early on Saturday, before the worst of the cyclone hit, otherwise we would have had to loiter at sea until it was safe to proceed. At lunchtime Friday the Captain gave the orders for full steam ahead, and we reached the safe haven of Brisbane 3 hours ahead of schedule (around 4am Saturday). We had no rough seas as a result of the cyclone, although I heard there was a P&O ship out there with a lot of seasick passengers aboard - they weren't so lucky. Mind you it was pouring with rain when we disembarked, and our umbrellas turned inside out as we headed to our car, but we were so relieved to make it back safely that we were in high spirits. Having my niece Claire (one of Gemma's 5 daughters) meet us with her umbrella, big smile and strong arms to help with the suitcases (until we linked up with our husbands around the corner) was an unexpected and most welcome bonus! She put a big smile on all of our faces. Bless you Clairie!
