Day 26 - Top day in Hobart - Dec 20th

Paula watched the sail in as we nosed into Victoria Dock, almost down town Hobart.  I continued with the fruit and on this whole cruise, I hadn’t bothered to ask for my favourite item, soft poached eggs. The scrambled eggs, even when freshly presented seemed over-cooked for me, though they do usually have scrambled eggs plus. The plus being salmon, or mushrooms, cheese etc., but they still looked overcooked for my taste! 

It was only 9am when we wandered off, with no plans other than a possible hop-on hop-off bus if they had one. There was free shuttle to the information centre in town and sure enough, we spied an ex UK (West Yorkshire) double-decker bus, painted red and aptly named “Red Decker”.  After a few minutes queuing whilst a Japanese tour organiser tried to establish which tour company he had booked with (it wasn’t this one...) we boarded the bus and waited for the 9:30am start.  Normally, these buses only go on the hour, but they were awake enough to realise that there was a chance that of the 2,700 Diamond passengers, they stood a good chance of picking up extra trade.  The bus was almost full.

Now I have often criticised tour guides in the past for drab and boring monologues, but if there was an object lesson in how to do it properly, this was it.  Our driver (Mark) was informative, well spoken, funny and  the sound system on the bus was excellent.  He started off the tour quite slowly, letting traffic overtake as he explained the local dock history, without hurtling past at 50kmh/30mph that many seem to do.  His commentary was well modulated and his dry sense of humour might have been lost on the Japanese.

Classic example when slowing at a school where there were about 50 kids, all in uniform, waiting to board a coach.

“This is my daughter’s school.”  A toot and a wave. “There she is.  She is the one in the blue hat...”  (For those who do not understand the English dry humour, all the kids were in uniform - including blue hats....)

Our tour continued up as far as the Cascade Brewery (where several people hopped off, presumably to do the popular brewery tour).

The bus then turned around and Mark gave us a fascinating insight and information on what was the women’s prison and the role that the women (as servants) often played in the community.  I am not one for history, but this aspect of social history was so well conveyed, it was captivating (excuse the pun).  What the early convict settlers went through, particularly the women, really was most interesting.

The total tour took just 90 minutes and without a doubt, was one of the best tours anywhere thanks to Mark.  (Monaco may be my favourite place, but Mark’s commentary was definitely the gold medal winner for the year.) As he said as we were leaving. “If you enjoyed the tour, my name is Mark. If you didn’t, my name is Basil.”

Back at the info centre, it was a short but breezy walk to the centre of town and once again, an excellent coffee at Gloria Jeans!

On our walk back to the ship, I had a real craving for decent fish and chips.  We found a floating outlet at the dock and the chips were beautifully cooked (too many really  - we could have shared) and a couple of nice pieces of crumbed fish.  Maybe I should do a world survey on fish and chips – they vary so much on quality and price.  These weren’t  cheap but they were delicious.

We skipped the afternoon quiz and watched the Hobart Police Pipe band presentation in the theatre. Nice show.  We then went to the early show put on by Australian comedienne Maggie.  We didn’t attend her show(s) on the Dawn, so thought we’d give it  ago. Brilliant singing voice, but  the comedy was a bit slow for me.

A later than normal visit to the buffet...  Clocks forward again tonight and another couple of relaxing sea days ahead - three if you count cruising the Milford sound.  Hopefully, the fine weather will continue.

(Doing my best to catch up, so you may see more than one blog a day...)

Day 25 - A good sea day, even without Australian friends! Dec 19th

A disturbed night’s sleep for Paula as the sinusitis turned into a full blown cough, so she had every right to be grumpy with me – again!  I seem to have skipped the cooked breakfasts on this cruise just taking a bowl of fruit and even a drink of hot lemon and honey to kick off the day.  Our new routine of morning trivia continued and we wished Greg a happy birthday.  Being  a chocoholic, he was thrilled with a gift of Ferro Rocher and even more thrilled with our 16/20 trivia win!  We added more Princess drink bottles to our stock, but as we hadn’t brought ours with us anyway, a good prize.

We then headed off to see Karla (Future Cruises) as we’d done some serious thinking over recent days (and less serious budgeting...).  First of all, we cancelled the second part of our Grand Pacific cruise that starts in July. We now hop off at San Francisco and will fly home from there.  At least we’ll still catch up with several friends and we get to see Alaska which was one of Paula’s few remaining bucket list items.

Next, we enquired about the 2013 Europe cruise.  Karla was a bit surprised that bookings were open as she hadn’t had an email telling her.  We were so early, and yet the cabin we wanted had already gone!  Unbelievable. We booked anyway...

Afternoon trivia, we finished runners up, so overall, a successful day  - particularly for Greg.  After a long chat with Greg and Cathy again, we returned once more to Karla to book yet another cruise!

When we totted up where we’d finally get our coveted Black Card (Elite) it was 5 days AFTER Beijing, so we hunted around for a short cruise before the Grand Circle and opted for a 7 day cruise out of Southampton to Norway.  (We are in the UK, not via cruise ship in May anyway.)  Price seemed steep for a window cabin down on deck 5 on the Grand Princess, but it just goes to show that the Americans and Australasians are getting good value.  It meant staying in the UK for a few more days but that is a bonus. The Grand Princess is similar to the Diamond but it has been refurbished and the 250 ton Skywalkers lounge has been lopped off!

The production show we had already seen, but we watched it again anyway and topped off a good (but expensive!) day with a coffee.

Hobart tomorrow and nothing planned but at least the head is getting better, albeit far too slowly.  The Coldral seems to mask most of the effects - most of the time.

Day 24 - Melbourne - Dec 18th

After a much better sleep, but with the Princess tickly cough as a reminder of smokers past, I let Paula get up to watch the sail in.  (Shouldn’t that be cruise in?)  At breakfast we met a really nice Canadian guy who was ex-Canadian Navy.  I think his team won trivia yesterday.

We ambled off the ship and joined the long queue at the dockside store to buy tram tickets.  After queuing for about ten minutes and just after paying, the shopkeeper announced that he had run out of tickets.  With a couple of thousand cruisers plus staff appearing, I suspect this guy wasn’t in the scouts.

Fortunately, the tram staff just told people to pile in and pay at the other end!  A touch of Tokyo here as we really did pile in for the ride to town. The locals waiting on the platforms en route were less than impressed.  We hopped off the tram a bit too early and walked along Collins St into town, then Bourke St, but passed a succession of closed shops!   Whoops.  We thought that maybe we’d made a big mistake, but as we approached the mall, there were hundreds of parents with small children, queuing up to look at the animated window displays in Myers.  The shops opened at 10am! 

I was beginning to fade after the long walk but once again, Gloria Jeans coffee was my saviour.  What we didn’t know until we wandered out was that we were in Mid City mall (I think...) with the clock tower in the centre.  A walk around then to the free circle tram.  Since our last visit to Melbourne, the loop has been extended to Harbourside.  We didn’t get off but stayed on back to the City and caught the tram back to the port.  Next time maybe.

We wandered around locally for a few minutes but it was a bit breezy and overcast so we headed back to the ship.  At least the shoe inserts worked well!

We watched as hundreds of locals queued for ages for the car ferry to Tasmania and as Colin & Jude (keen caravaners) were around, we thought that maybe the last pic might be them.  From my inexperienced perspective, it seemed a very slow loading system compared to the France/UK/Belgium cross channel ferries.

Just a snack in the buffet then we realised that every show and even the MUTS movie was a repeat.  Even the crosswords and the daily Sudoku and the TV films were repeats! So, after a coffee in the atrium we crashed early and read. (I’d bought a $5 book written by Humphrey Lyttleton, a well know Brit jazz trumpeter, band leader and programme  presenter, so at least I had something decent to read).

Just one sea day tomorrow before hitting Tasmania – a first for us. 

Day 23 At sea - again - Dec 17th

Today started a new cruise on two counts.  Firstly, it was in the Princess system as a new cruise not a continuation and secondly, our Australian quizzers had gone!

Just for a change, we headed for morning trivia (we usually only do the afternoon session) to join Greg & Cathy who we’d met previously and are from Florida, plus Joe & Heather, also from the USA, though Heather is Canadian.  Our team name was “Trying for 10”, which gives you some idea of our expectations...  We managed 15/20 which was a good start, but not enough to win.

To the atrium for coffee and a real bonus.  Notwithstanding the sugar(s) in my coffee, I don’t normally go too much for the sweet stuff, but I do have a Princess chocolate doughnut addiction. I managed one delicious mini doughnut – but that was it.  First appearance and a suspicion it may also be the last.

After warming up on the deck, we headed to the aerobic studio for a talk by Phil, the fitness trainer on foot alignment.  Whether it was his convincing sales pitch or brilliant presentation, we are not sure, but after seeing our own footprints and the slight alignment needed, the money saved from cancelling the Port Douglas trip ended up spent on hard plastic inserts for our footwear!  Expensive, but we do have to look after our feet.

Afternoon trivia was a less impressive 11/20 – but at least we reached our target.  We stayed and chatted to Greg & Cathy for a long time, then dressed up for one of the two formal nights.  Anytime dining and back to the Santa Fe dining room where we were seated promptly as a ‘honeymoon table for two’.  Did we miss our table companions?  Sure did. After a show in Explorers (another repeat artist) and a coffee, we retired, not at all sure whether or not this leg is going to be anything more than a pleasant way to get home with Paula’s carving!

The good news is that at least we are not assailed by fag smoke from next door... Melbourne tomorrow, one of our favourite cities but as it is Sunday, hopefully somewhere will be open.

Day 22 - Sydney finish and restart - Dec 16th

Our original plan was to disembark in Sydney and fly home, but as no one had invited us for Christmas dinner and we hadn’t invited anyone to feast with us either, (plus Paula’s plan to purchase a large dolphin carving...) we made a very late decision to stay on the ship all the way to Auckland.  We managed a good deal cost-wise and the extra 12 days with Princess just puts us so much nearer Elite status (with free laundry!) and an itinerary that included one of our favourite cities – Melbourne, plus a first time visit to Hobart Tasmania, made this an attractive proposition.

Sydney put on a fine day for us and although I had the usual uncomfortable night’s sleep and I was up 6:40am, but we had already docked at Circular Quay.  This has to be one of the best ever ports as the bow of the ship is almost in the city.  We managed a farewell to Ros and Arnold, Colin and Jude in the buffet before they disembarked, with a promise that we’d find out about the 2013 trip in NZ dollars, as today is supposed to be the day the prices are released.  Well it was, but it has been delayed a day...

We missed saying Hi to Joanne who was going to pick up Ros & Arnold but parking is impossible, so she was apparently just going to slow down whilst Ros and Arnold leapt aboard!

We did our usual amble off the ship when we were ready and apart from purchasing two fantastic R2E2 mangoes (our favourites) for $5 from  a street vendor, we didn’t exactly enhance the local economy by very much.  A decent coffee, a ride on the Monorail to the famous Paddy’s Market and we headed back to cabin 706.  An initial panic attack showed that one of the new residents shared the same named as Paula’s estranged sister but we soon met them and found that 704 & 706 were occupied by 3 sisters and a friend who are not related to Paula.  They  don’t smoke and the two suffering in 704 had to leave the cabin door open all day to try and get rid of the stench.   The couple in 708 don’t smoke either and we are not sure about the cabins below, but initially, it is looking good!  Hooray.

We caught up with our new American friends, Greg & Cathy and chatted away until quite late.

The sailaway was just brilliant (unlike the Dawn Princess in May, when it was cold and wet) as the weather was just about perfect and the city lights photographed well.

So, here we go, on to Melbourne after a day at sea, with a new travel chapter – though the blog continues until the end of the year, when I’ll start a new one...

 

 

 

Days 20 & 21 - At sea before Sydney Dec 14/15th

As I am running so late, needless to say, a summary of two sea days/two relaxing days.  Today, I lodged my written complaint regarding the effects of the passive smoking from next door, but the powers that be don’t seem to care two hoots.  Although Princess are banning smoking in the cabins and on the balconies from Jan 12^th, it doesn’t really help those who genuinely suffer so much NOW.  Quite why they never ask on the paperwork whether or not people smoke, then set aside a rear section for them on each level is beyond me.  They are scattered all over the place and there are certain sections of the ship you just have to avoid as best you can, but when they are right next door, or below or immediately above, the smoke gets everywhere.

When I checked at the front desk where our next cabin was, Sydney to Auckland, they had no trace of the booking!  A frantic search of our paperwork and a return to the front desk with a booking number elicited a more positive response.  We move from cabin 702 just two doors away to 706!  Hopefully the smokers in 704 are getting off in Sydney.  If they are not, I’ll probably be throwing someone overboard.

The last formal night of this leg and  a nice meal before the production show “Ports of Call”.  As good as always.

Of our table companions and even absent lobster loving ex table companions, it seems that most are serious about the 2013 cruise back on the Dawn Princess, Sydney to Venice and back to Sydney.  That is going to be a popular trip judging by the local interest. Needless to say, I can’t see us missing out, but we’ll just have to wait and see. A lot of thinking to be done over the next three days regarding future travel plans.

The ship was moving about a bit on day 21, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

We met Barb & Ken up on the outdoor putting course and it was good to get outside in clear air, but it was rather cool up there so we didn’t stay long.  Paula didn’t win the jackpot at Bingo and our trivia score of 13/20 was fairly normal.  Afterwards, and before dinner, we met once again in Ros and Arnold’s cabin to toast Colin on his birthday.  He was the proud recipient of a belt with an MG buckle from us, so when stands alongside his MG TF,  he’ll remember us!

Tomorrow, Sydney, and a sad farewell to our cruising buddies (until the next time of course – whenever that might be) and a fervent wish for non-smoking neighbours, so that we can enjoy clean air for the last 12 days of the trip so that my head clears.   Way, way behind with the blog now, but who really cares?  Hey, it is holiday time – for us anyway.