Ship ahoy

We are aboard and on our way to Melbourne, where we meet up with my brother, Lynn & Wendy.  But before we get ahead of ourselves, some recollections on you journey from Auckland.  With an early start, we got to the airport at 6.30 am and having checked in on line, found ourselves at emigration in no time at all and more importantly, no queues.  As we have new passports, we breezed through there too.

A coffee and scone and all aboard for 8.30 departure.  An uneventful flight, watched "Argo", although Vivian was busy chatting with the woman next to her, so only got half way through.  Qantas food etc. was most unimpressive.  The flight was full of Asian tourists returning home and as we were towards the back of the plane, we were amongst the last to get off.  However with our passports we bypassed the queues once again and found that our bags were already through, so Murray chased after them and we were away even before the crew.  Customs were very kind and went straight through.

Downstairs to the train station and in no time we were on our way to Circular Quay.  The trains are a disgrace, with graffiti and rubbish.  But was efficient and we soon got off right opposite the bow of Diamond Princess.  It was HOT, but a short stroll  with our bags and we were able to drop them off with Princess staff by 11.00.  Had a coffee & toasted sandwich/croissant at the nearest cafe. Not the most memorable, but similar to Qantas standard.  Walked around to the Opera House and then up to Government House, where we were able to sit in the grounds for a while.  As the gardens were about to close due to an official engagement, we left about 1.30 and walked back to the ship.

We had been told that boarding commenced at 2.00 and that our deck would be boarding after 3.00.  However when we turned up we were ushered straight through and were in our cabin by 2.00.  Sometimes it helps to ignore "the rules".  Funny thing was that although Vivian had been through scanners at both Auckland & Sydney, the ship scanner detected metal in her shoes, so she had to go back and send her shoes through!  The only other hi cup was that Murray's bag did not arrive.  After 3 hours we rang the desk and magically it appeared about 10 minutes later.  A very relieved Murray.

Our cabin decorations

Dinner was open sitting as we were not yet ready to sail.  The ship gave us a lovely gateaux, with candle and the waiters sang "Happy Anniversary", much to the amusement of others in the dining room, as we were the first to have a celebration on board.  A bit of a rush as had safety lecture (muster stations) and of course cast off at 8.00.  Sydney turned on a lovely evening and we stayed up on deck chatting to a young Canadian couple until we reached the heads and the pilot left the ship.

A great start to the cruise, what will tomorrow hold?

Circular Quay with Diamond Princess behind

Our Wedding Anniversary gateaux