Island Princess

Well we are onboard & I am sitting on our balcony in shorts and t-shirt.  It is pleasantly warm and sunny. Pleased we packed summer clothes as well.  We had a relaxing morning and it didn't take long to repack our bags and go down for breakfast.  I uploaded the photos (previous post) and it is amazing how much I had forgotten about the process since the last cruise.  All set now thankfully.  Anyway, we were doing that when we were visited by a Fox Terrier (& handler), to to bedbug sniffer search.  I must say that I have never heard of that before.  Apparently the hotel does it every 3 months.  So we learn something every day.

We left the hotel about 10.30 & it was less than 15 minutes to the cruise ship terminal. Considering that there were 3 ships in port, the process was extremely smooth and we were aboard not long after 11.00.  We actually made it to the main dining room for lunch!  We had our first experience of US Border officials and were duly fingerprinted and photographed.  Vivian was unimpressed, but I suspect that we' all go through this a few more times.  Funny that our "Aliens" queue was !such smaller than the US/Canadian one.

Thursday 22 May
Spoke too soon 😣  No sooner had we moved away from the dock, then the sky darkened and the temperature dropped.  We decided to do the sailaway from our balcony with a coffee in hand.  It was lovely, but by the time we cleared the heads, we too headed inside as it was decidedly cold - hey we've got plenty of warm clothes.  Headed off for dinner about 7.15 - we are Anytime Dining this time (set dinners were all booked out and anyway the first sitting is 5.15, which is really far too early, particularly up here where the sun rises at 5.30 and sets at almost 9.00).  We only had to wait about 10 minutes for a table, as we elect to share with others.  Funnily, on other cruises the tables have been 6/10, but this was just 4.  Had a very interesting time with a couple of teachers from Utah, who we keep bumping into now.

This morning we are about half way to Ketchican and the temperature has dropped to 13 degrees, it is cloudy and now misty with a swell of 5 odd metres.  The ship's foghorn is sounding constantly.  The Captain assures us that as we turn towards land and our next port the swell will subside.  The ship was built for the Panama Canal, so is a little narrower (but longer) so a following swell is amplified a bit and there is a reasonable amount of roll.  All adds to the excitement.  We are only in Ketchikan for half a day and have a City tour on amphibious "duck".  Oh, we did our walk around the deck this morning and it is 2.8 circuits for 1 mile. Not many others on the circuit I must say.

It is formal night tonight, so hopefully we can slip into dinner while the rest fight over their free champagne.  There are 2 theatres on this ship as well as a performance lounge, so not quite the same congestion for shows later on.  Both theatres have comedians tonight, so it probably depends on time/length of dinner which one we may do (or none!).  As we enter US territory overnight, our clocks go back 1 hour, but that is not going to worry us as we are still waking up early.

Vancouver photos

Day 1 at Yacht Club

Stanley Park

The suspension bridge

Vivian on treetops

Murray taking a break

Yogi & Vivian

"Enjoying" the cliff walk

Shannon Falls

Up the gondola

At the cafe

Yet another suspension bridge

With Rohays & Don at the Falls

1st stop - Vancouver

Well, we are well and truely immersed in Vancouver and feel as though we have lived here for years. But more of that shortly as we must always start at the beginning.  Sunday, we drove to Fiona's and had a delicious lunch and introduced Tiger to her new home before Fiona drove us to the airport.  We duly presented ourselves at the airport, having previously checked in online.  Now I've the check in online with other airlines and assumed that we'd rock up and have our bags weighed and ticketed and that they'd check passport and we would be off.  No, no, although I'd got the boarding pass, I still had to use one of those infernal machines which have taken over all of the Air  New Zealand area like a scene from Dr Who.  All this so that we could declare that we'd packed our bags, didn't have anything naughty in the bags and deal with those sticky paper luggage tags BEFORE taking said bags to a real person, who checked passports, weighed the bags and sent them on their way to wherever.  We sure hope we see them again, but as this is a direct flight, the odds are pretty good.

So up we go and pass through immigration (once again self service), remembering to take off glasses, as these we not allowed on our passport photos - but it makes it hard to read what you supposed to do without glasses.  Vivian had the audacity to smile for a start and the gate did not like that!

On to the dreaded scanning machine, where we both passed with flying colours, except it was Vivian's turn for the random "wand over".  Funny thing was that we had had a " discussion " on Saturday about the liquids, sharp stuff, etc. which had mean't a bit of a repack of the suitcase.  Anyway, plastic bags in top of my backpack which I put to one side while removing my "man bag", but before I could produce said liquids etc. the official shoved the bag through the scanner with no comment.  Seems our discussion earlier was unnecessary☺

We had plenty of time for a coffee and must say that the Atomic Coffee at top of the escalator was very good, which was great as it will be our last Flat White for a month.  While enjoying our coffee and people watching,  we noticed a large number of elderly (OK, they we generally old) wearing gold tags.  That ruled out a Mormon convention!!  It turns out that this was a group of 60 from Tasmania, who were travelling on our flight and then going on a Norwegian Line ship for Alaskan cruise and then a trip to the Rockies.  Given the age and condition of some of them this was to be a mammoth event.  One lady had to be attended to with oxygen about half way through the flight, so hope they are enjoying the thought of the return journey.

Although we were a little late departing wee arrived pretty much on time and were met by our friends Rohays & Don.  They were so thoughtful and provided us with water, orange segments and grapes to keep us sustained while they drove us to our hotel.  I think it was about 4.00 when we checked in and were surprised when Rohays said that they'd be back at 7.00 as they were taking us out for dinner.  Now this is still Sunday, after we had already had most of a NZ Sunday plus a 13 hour flight.  Amazingly we were still feeling as fresh as .......? I of course take "No More Jet Lag", which I swear by.  Anyway Vivian had a rest for an hour or so, I sorted our the WiFi and after a shower and change we were all set, for what was a fabulous evening. We were taken on a drive around the city to get our bearings and headed off to the Yacht Club for dinner.  The weather was warm enough to sit outside and admire the view.  Starting to worry about all the winter clothes we packed.

We got back to the hotel about 10.30 and had no trouble getting to sleep.  Surprisingly. We were awake before 6.00 on Monday.  Monday was a little cooler to start with, but progressively warmed during the day.  By the time we got to Rohays & Don's for dinner I had to borrow a pair of Don's shorts.   We saw a lot more of Vancouver and are actually starting to get our bearings.

Tuesday was another big day and we were up relatively early to catch a free shuttle to go to Capalino Suspension bridge, which is on the north shore.  Fortunately we were there early and went across before the crowds as this is a large bridge which sways quite considerably, particularly when a lot of people start moving.  Vivian handled it well, along with the treetop walk, but was less impressed with the cliff face walk over the river. 

Rohays & Don picked us up from there and we drove north towards Whistler to visit the new Sea to Sky Gondola at Squamish.  The gondola only opened on Friday and rises 850 metres.  Absolutely amazing views.  Yes, another hot day.  We also trecked up to see the Shannon Falls, which were full of spring melt. All in all, quite an active day, finished off with hospitality at Rohays & Don's yet again.

Well, the day has arrived and we are going down for breakfast, repacking our bags and walking down a couple of blocks to our ship for the next phase of our holiday. Vivian has just commented that she is a bit sore from all the exercise yesterday.

Updates and hopefully some photos will follow as time & technology permit.

Not long now till our next adventure

Here we are almost half way through 2014 and it's high time to get away on a holiday (again).  This year starts off with a trip to Alaska & the Canadian Rockies.

18 May - fly to Vanouver (we arrive the same day!) and have a couple of days to get acclimitised.
21 May - join Island Princess for a 7 night Alaskan cruise up to Anchorage.  We have 3 days to explore the far north.
31 May - fly to Calgary and once again have 3 days exploring
3 June - Rocky Mountaineer trip which includes bus and train back to Vancouver
10 June - 3 days to further explore Vancouver (& includes a day trip to Victoria, (Vancouver Island)
13 June - fly home - arriving on 15 June

Well the bags are packed (& under weight thankfully) and it is just a matter of waiting for Sunday.  We are fortunate that friends we met on the Ocean Princess last year are meeting us at Vancouver airport and will take us to our hotel and show us around.  They had insisted that we stay with them, but we already had non-refundable hotel reservations, so stuck with that.  It will be great to catch up with them again, Rohays was a bridge player with Vivian and we'd meet up for the Princess Afternoon Tea each sea-day.  Don, her husband, is not a bridge player and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon (as did I - oh, did I just say that?).  Anyway, no bridge on this cruise - it's pretty port and scenic intensive, and also pretty short.

Next blog entry will be when we get to Vancouver - not many sleeps left!

Santorini photos

We are the little ship on the right

 - the other one is a Costa!

It would be a messy walk up

Saddled up

Like a pro

Our "donkey master"

"Maria"

Made it

All clean up here

While having a coffee

Looking back up

From the ship

Capri photos

Isle of Capri

Another view

and yes, I was there!

End of the journey

Friday 1 November
As we motor down the Queensland coast the weather has changed from the clear blue of yesterday to a grey, with little whitecaps and a strong wind from the east. For the first time they have closed our port deck, so we are having to sit inside.  As I wrote previously, last night was Halloween and the dining room staff certainly went full-on with almost everyone in a ghoulish costume. They are also very good at entertaining.  The party upstairs later on was pretty tame and they didn't have the right mix.  The piano player in the Casino Lounge was much more fun. We actually got all of our table mates together and had a good old sing along. Tonight is the final formal night and everyone has promised to be at dinner. We don't think that we'll bother going to the last Captain's cocktail party - it is only half an hour and from past experience it takes at least that time to get in & possibly get hold of 1 drink.

And no, we did not go to the cocktail party but when we got to our dinner table we had a surprise additional guest, Brad Stevens, who is the pianist in the Casino Lounge. He is American and very charming - Elaine had him to herself most of the evening, much to Diane's dismay!  Funnily, when we were talking with Brad later in the evening, he couldn't recall Elaine's name.  Anyway, everyone turned up for dinner and we got a professional photo taken (which we purchased and shared with Diane).  On this occasion we also head the parade of the Bombe Alaska, a traditional on Princess normally carried out on the last night. As about 100 passengers are getting off at Brisbane, everything seems to have been brought forward to accommodate them. Perhaps I am starting to get grumpy, but the cruise IS to Sydney and the normal schedule should be followed. Another example of a poor Cruise Director.  Yes, definitely time to take a break.

Saturday 2nd
Woke to a glorious day and we were sailing up the Brisbane River. Having never seem Brisbane from this perspective, was really great. We were amazed how the river banks were so clean and well maintained.  We went under the Gateway Motorway bridges by the airport, which is something the big ships can't do (they apparently dock right out by the heads) and as we approached the Overseas Terminal,  turned around in the river and backed into place. 

We had arranged to meet Alastair at 10.00, so we're were in no hurry too get off, but eventually went down to the terminal about 9.45.  I went outside to check on the carpark and there was Alastair Kristi Blake & Jordan just getting out of the car. Talk about great timing.   The terminal is new and surrounded by apartments and all the usual cafes, restaurants etc. so we wandered down and along the river to show the grandchildren the ship - they thought it was great and so big, I don't know what they would have thought of the Royal:-)

We went back to the shopping area and found a great chocolate shop, which is part of a chain in parts of Brisbane, so we all filed up on chocolate drinks (apart from Vivian, who had green tea) and then the children went exploring and bought more chocolate, so you can imagine.......  Fortunately there was an excellent park just across the road, so we went and did the various activities to wear off some of the excesses.  Both the boys enjoyed it very much and little Jordan, only 5 was great on flying fox, agility thingies and of course loved the swings. We moved on to lunch and although Kristi had originally thought of going to Southbank, everything was right here, so we stayed and had a lovely fish meal - as usual bought far too much and the boys had too much soft drink, but hey that's what it's all about.  Was really great to catch up and we were lucky to catch up with Alastair as it turns out that he is off to Iraq on Monday. Excellent timing and hopefully our trips will coincide on future adventures.

After dinner we went to the show and then up to the Tahitian Lounge, where the band (at last) was playing. Well, there are 4 in the band and for a start, just the two of us on the dance floor.  Another couple turned up, so we ended up with 4. But obviously the day on Brisbane had worn people out!  While up in the lounge (top deck), we were surprised to see all the lights of Brisbane still visible and on our Port (left) side.  This is about 5 hours after we set sail and 3 hours after we went through the heads.  It was not until Sunday that I worked out that the course out of Brisbane heading south is a convoluted one to circumnavigate around Moreton Island and that the lights were actually from the Sunshine Coast

Sunday 3rd
Sad, sad day. Today is packing up day and a series of lasts. The sea is just a little choppy and a nice little roll reminds us where we are. We were a bit late to get "our" deckchairs, but here we are. We have put off packing until later, but we will have to focus tonight. Although they want the bags out before we go to dinner it is too inconvenient as we don't want to carry more carry-on luggage than we have to. I have relented and rather than take as taxi as planned, purchased the ship's transfer - the cost is about the same and we don't have to worry about bags, taxi overcharging etc. I also booked the last transfer to leave the ship at 9.30. The only downside is that our luggage tags are Pink 8!!

It has all become so real, with the bags on the bed and clothes etc. out for packing. Good news, I have just checked the Qantas website and find that all tickets purchased since 7 February have a 30kg baggage allowance (too bad that I've been telling Vivian that we can't buy any more because of our 23kg allowance :-) ).  Update - have fully packed & the bags still weigh 22.1kg, amazing! 

Final dinner tonight, but not as sad as other voyages, as our table companions are infrequent and generally don't share the same interests.  We were just completing dessert when Elaine eventually turned up - she had been too busy at the gym !?  Oh well people are different.  Also at dinner the Captain made a surprise announcement that the Pilot would be boarding an hour later than planned due to the bad weather in Sydney. Just what we wanted to hear, but any delay would not affect us as we have a 3.30 flight.

Monday 4th
Hardly slept last night. The Captain's warning proved correct and we started to rock and roll just after we got to bed.  Was certainly quite a large swell and the wind caused the ship to groan. The was amplified somewhat by the tender outside our window, which was moving a bit against its restraints.  Anyway we woke/got up at 6.15 and there was a big swell running as we sailed down towards the harbour entrance. Watched the Pilot boat try to board the Pilot - it took 3 goes before he was able to get on board.  With some relief, we soon entered the harbour and enjoyed smooth seas once again.

So here we are, up in the Premium departure lounge, looking over a beautiful Sydney. We have just one more hour on board and now is the hour to say goodbye (as the song goes) and I trust that you have enjoyed these random jottings over our adventure.  Looking forward to being home with family & friends.  Byeeeeee.