Day 18 - Port Douglas - Dec 12th

Having had such a terrible day yesterday and cancelled our trip, plus a far from good night again, it was with some trepidation that we staggered ashore from the tender boat after a leisurely breakfast.  The buffet coffee is renowned for tasting like anything other than coffee, but even a Robert Timms coffee bag tasted terrible.  The Coldral and Strepsil diet wasn’t doing my palate any favours, so everything tasted terrible. 

From the pleasant pier, where they were offering half hour tours by trike, we wandered up to the main street, about  a five minute walk, to find a small settlement that obviously relies on tourism, with a plethora of bars, cafes and souvenir shops, plus the inevitable Target.

It is not  a large place so it didn’t take long to walk the length of the main drag and back.  We staggered into a cool, pleasant cafe, for a drink, mine being a welcome caffeine boost of Coca-Cola, to find the cheerful proprietor was from Grimsby, a matter of eighty or so miles from Nottingham!

We were ferried back to the ship quite early, by local catamaran, rather than the usual lifeboat.  It was only 12:25 when we returned, but at least I survived the morning with collapsing in a dribbling spluttering heap.

We were invited down to Ros and Arnold’s presidential suite for pre-dinner drinks at 5pm.

It was one of my favourites for dinner – French onion soup – which was no doubt good for me, but I couldn’t savour it as normal and was full by the end of it anyway!  The appetite has taken a bashing

One of the regular cruise items is the staff show in the theatre and on the Dawn, we were far too late to see it and the telecast on to the MUTS screen and the TV screens was dreadful, the sound quality even worse, so this time, we made sure we were in time.

There are some talented staff members and little Deasy, a popular buffet waitress, really belted out her number with a professionalism that puts some paid entertainers to shame.  Lyle singing with ukulele accompaniment was also memorable.  As usual, the cruise entertainment staff put on a couple of well received comedic skits.  Although we didn’t need to see it on TV, at least they had a camera operator this time, rather than a high set fixed wide angle camera, that only really showed the backs of audience heads, the wings and the proscenium arch of the Dawn!

Knowing that a shortage of caffeine is likely to keep me awake, we called at the atrium for a late coffee (drinking chocolate for Paula) so bed was a more respectable 12:15!  A bit nearer our normal be time.

Another land day tomorrow – Airlie Beach.  We have never been this far up the east coast of Australia before and Cairns or Port Douglas had been on our ‘to do’ list for some time, so it is all new to us.  For the Australians on our table, this is all old hat of course.  For them, Airlie Beach represents little more than the last stop before Sydney on this cruise, so they are not exactly jumping up and down with glee, but talk persists of plans for 2013 to maintain the excitement levels.

Days 16 and 17 - Oh dear... Dec 10 & 11.

Today is my brother’s birthday, so happy birthday Dave.  Sorry we won’t be dropping in.

Again, not  a good night but Paula slept like a log.  (She claims it must have been the foot massage before bed!)  We didn’t stir until 9:50am and I felt terrible.  Sore throat, heavy head, eyes that objected to daylight and the obvious signs of an extended rough patch.  Into the Coldral capsules big time, but they weren’t anything more than helpful.

Trying to get fresh air on the balcony (which is what I needed) was hopeless as the fag smoke from 704 was invasive – as usual.  A trip to the front desk to complain brought the standard response “we can’t do anything”.

We did OK at trivia but the winners were 4 better.

Dinner was enlivened by the ‘offer’ of purchasing a shot glass which would then be filled with limoncello.  I tried it but it wasn’t really cold enough - and I spilled half mine anyway... 

The production show in the theatre was “Words and Music” which was pretty good, as always.  The production shows are always worth watching, but some appeal more than others.

Bad Night, Worse Day

Terrible night and had to stay in bed most of the day. A lack of coffee probably didn’t help but all I could manage all day was a bowl of soup.  We cancelled our booked trip in Port Douglas tomorrow, which was the much proclaimed train and sky ride, as facing a long hot day was the last thing I could probably have coped with.  I bet the smokers have no idea of the misery they can cause the sensitive non-smokers.  Fortunately, the tour desk managed to on-sell our tickets so we didn’t lose out financially.  Coldral is keeping me afloat – just.

Happy birthday to Jill and sorry we are not at your BBQ...

Day 15 - A hot Darwin - Dec 9th

Not a good night at all for me, but even worse for Paula as my erratic snoring and snorting drove her to the other room.  But wait a minute, unlike home, we don’t HAVE another room,  so she decamped to the balcony for half an hour, but that was not exactly satisfactory, as the smoky people next door slept with their door open, so the stench was impossible to escape from.  Paula did the only thing possible and took a pill...

We were therefore out of bed quite late but there was no rush as Darwin isn’t a tender port.  After a light breakfast, we walked into town and it was already quite hot.  We hopped straight onto a number 4 bus heading for the Casuarina shopping mall.  (It is strange how through life, names like this appear to be coincidental, as the rental I was in when I first met Paula was on Casuarina Rd...)  We flashed our NZ Seniors’ passes and it cost us nothing.  Getting old isn’t all bad.  Route 4 is the ‘scenic’ route, covering three sides of a square, taking 55 minutes, so if you are in a hurry, you take a number 10 which is direct.

Not a very scenic route really, but we didn’t mind.  A great shopping mall and although I tried black trousers on at three different menswear shops, they either didn’t have my size or the cut was awful, so I resigned myself to the remaining formal nights with pale trousers.  Coffee at Gloria Jeans’ was just excellent and much better than on the ship.  In fact, coffee on this ship is a bit hit and miss, but more about that later when I do the ship comparisons.

Back to the ship with Ken & Barb (on the number 10 of course) and for a late buffet lunch.  We skipped trivia but met up with the others in the top floor Skywalker’s for the sailaway.  Dinner was nice with hot jubilee cherries for dessert.  I don’t often succumb to desserts but hot cherries and cream – yum!

The juggler wasn’t so hot and after, a long chat to Greg and Kathy from Florida.  Clocks forward 30 minutes tonight with two days at sea before Port Douglas.  The smokers have really done my head in though, and that is not good.  

Days 13 - 14 Two straightforward sea days. Dec 7 & 8th.

Not too much of either interest or note other than the Indian buffet was a bit lacking in variety, though the chicken madras and the fruited rice was tasty enough for a second run... We sat up on the balcony around the indoor calypso/conservatory pool to eat it and noted that not for the first time, a senior Japanese gentleman with an obvious passion for table tennis (complete with his own designed and constructed bat!), was keen to help the youngsters improve their game.  We watched as we ate, and saw a youngster improve so much, that in the 20 minutes or so we were there, he developed a formidable forehand smash from virtually nothing!  Great to see.

We did manage the salsa dance class for a bit of exercise, but most of the classes seem to be 30 mins, rather than the 1 hour on the Dawn.  Although I tried several times, internet access appeared to be impossible 9though this specific blog is written later anyway – much later...)  We had another formal night and I managed a lobster tail with a crab-cake, (for a starter rather than the published main...  Looking at the photograph now, it is also easy to see why this may have been a good choice as a starter only, as it wasn’t really up to the standard we have come to expect.) but my head’s taste department was still on strike anyway, so I can’t say too much about it.   (There was yet another toast to an absent friend, who is a lobsterholic...)  I did manage to enjoy the steak Rossini main though, which was superb.  A beautiful steak topped, with pate, nice vegetables.

Our table waiters Freddie & Oscar livened things up a bit with a bit of table sculpture, though Ros looks a bit perturbed as to its stability, Arnold is more intent on studying the dessert menu, trying to find the lost berries.

We went on to club fusion for a game show – “Blankety Blank”, but sadly, the three cruise members on the panel were too predictable and that meant that the audience’s answers soon turned out to be predictable and boring too. Not a success.

It appears to us that the whole tone of this cruise staff is a bit more serious and a bit too PC maybe.  Have they been told to be a bit less silly?  We miss the infectiousness of Bex and her laugh, Barbara for being Barbara and Warren’s rapport with Deputy director Dave.

We did enjoy a coffee afterwards and a chat with Ken & Barb in the Atrium - until about 11:45pm!

 

Next day, we once again were unable to enjoy the balcony that we’d paid for, as the smokers next door were outside. Very frustrating as not feeling well is a pain.  It is more of a pain when on holiday and even more so when I know that second-hand cigarette smoke from next door is the reason. 

The Princess theatre act was Grant Galea, a singer who put on a good show, enlivened a wee bit by singing impersonations.

It almost goes without saying, that neither day provided a trivia win, but we still enjoy it.  Our team “The Guessalots” is aptly named but there are one or two really smart teams on board.  But hey, we don’t profess to know it all, but we are all still learning.

Another atrium late coffee stop with Ken & Barb and we were joined by the very bubbly and bouncy, but very single, Linda.  Quite a character that one...

Darwin tomorrow and that meant an easy immigration face to face whilst at sea which speeds things up.  We were in Darwin earlier in the year so we’ll just amble off again and maybe I’ll find some black trousers suitable for formal night, though with just three formal nights left, maybe I won’t...    

Day 12 - Benoa (Bali) - Dec 6th

For our last Asian stop, we accidentally caught up with Barb & Ken whilst waiting for our tender call and when we arrived on dry land, there were plenty of taxis available at a published fixed fare of $25 each way to Kuta beach.  We had never been to Bali before but we know it is a very popular destination for both Australians and Kiwis.  There are different spots on the island and the nearest for us was Kuta, which is  a beach resort.  We managed a modern Suzuki taxi van for the four of us and our driver was more than happy to drop us off and pick us up 3 hours later and refused to accept 50% payment for the outward trip.

We were somewhat surprised by the heavy traffic here and the driver did a bit of ducking and diving through the backstreets to try and avoid the worst bottlenecks.  As promised, he dropped us off at the market with a straight walk to the beach. At least 90% of the market must have been clothing – mainly singlets and tee shirts. All around, at almost every stall, were small offerings with incense burning, but often these seemed to get trampled on.  The singlets and tees seemed to be similar on every stall and we gained the impression that maybe one or two were wholesalers selling to other market traders, so there was a lot of haggling going on.

We walked down to the beach, turned right and walked along the water’s edge.  Plenty of offers of massage, cold drinks etc and dozens of small stalls.

Moving back in land again, the traffic was still extremely heavy, but what we noticed was that 80% of the jams were probably caused by slow moving taxis touting for custom and they contributed to about 80% of the traffic too!

Time for a coffee and we spied the Australian franchised Gloria Jeans.  Having had an excellent coffee in Vietnam and paying in $US, we were somewhat surprised to find that this branch only wanted local currency - so they missed out, as we didn’t have any.  Negotiating very poorly maintained pavements was a worry, as they effectively covered storm drains, but not all the coverings are in good condition. It was far too easy to put your foot down a hole so you had to be very vigilant.

Paula had spied a large dolphin carving earlier in the day so our last stop before the taxi at 3pm was to see how much he would drop his price of $100.  Now bargaining is the norm here so Paula offered $50.  He wasn’t happy.  Eventually he asked Paula her top price and she said $70. He wanted $80 and wouldn’t budge so we walked away.  He soon chased us and said OK, $70.  He wrapped it with bubble wrap and card board and when Paula handed over the $70, he claimed we had agreed on $80!  We paid $70 and staggered back to the taxi with our extra passenger...

Back at the wharf, it was quite entertaining to be in a fenced compound, whilst the traders tried to haggle through the fence.

We attacked the buffet at 4pm then caught up wit he others in the lofty Skywalker’s lounge for the sailaway, which as a tender port, wasn’t spectacular.

That concluded the Asian content of the trip as the remainder is more of an extended homecoming than anything.  With just three Australian ports before Sydney, the mood changed significantly and much of the talk was now of future plans...  

Days 9 - 11 At sea again, being lazy

As I have a bit of catching up to do, suffice to say that the three days at sea passed by without being attacked by pirates, hit by tornadoes or tsunamis.  There was no mass outbreak of bubonic plague, dengue fever, the lurghi or the squits – though there may have been isolated outbreaks here and there.  No mutinies of crew or passengers and no streakers - though given the likely state of so many un-ironed birthday suits around here, that is something of a blessing really.  Has anyone ever seen a geriatric with a walking frame, streaking?

We did turn up for the “Buddhism 101” lecture in the theatre one morning.  It was so peaceful that we both nodded off...

The following day it was port lecturer Hutch, on Benoa (Bali).  We didn’t nod off.

Unfortunately, the Diamond Cats lunch clashed with the crossing the equator ceremony but as viewing seems a little crowded compared to the Dawn, we did the lunch.  Nothing arranged other than the lunch, where Dave excused himself towards the end, as he was off to be verbally abused at bridge, where some old biddy objects to him smiling!  

For the second night, we caught an act that we had seen on the Dawn.   The first was illusionist Wayne Hoffman and the second was pianist/guitarist Bayne Bacon.  Good acts, but there is never enough seating unless you want to wait until the 10:30pm performances.

We also managed a couple of production shows, but we are now in the zone of getting repeats, though the stage equipment and effects appear to be  a bit more advanced than on the Dawn, or certainly compared to the first half of the cruise.

Benoa (Bali) tomorrow concludes the real overseas sector as after that it is all Australia and NZ.