Birthday celebrations
I must have gotten used to being rocked to sleep on the ship as I didn't sleep as well on land! However, I woke up another year older - obviously not looking it after the relaxing cruise! We had a light breakfast as we were saving our food intake for Doyles. I walked around to the local French patisserie (I'm adopting it now) to order coffee - and a tiny little pastry because it is my birthday after all! They even had lilacs (my birthday flower) on the counter so I was feeling very special. After our lazy morning, we headed down to Circular Quay at about 11:30am in order to get the ferry across to Watson's Bay. It was quite overcast but still very pleasant.
Arriving at Doyles, we had a lovely table reserved. Straight into the Jansz and having already studied the menu, we knew we were here for the seafood platter! It took us a couple of hours to get through it but oh, was it worth it!! We got the 3pm ferry back, stopping at our "local" french patisserie for a coffee and had a little rest before meeting a cousin and her husband for dinner. They took us down to a new restaurant in the renovated wharves on the Darling Harbour side of the Bridge. We didn't need to eat much so we had an entree and I had a little tart, which came with a birthday candle and waitresses singing! It was a lovely night out and nice to catch up with Inara and Robert.
We walked back along the water and there was a spectacular fireworks display behind the opera house. I was so impressed at the effort they had gone to for my birthday!
A lovely way to celebrate my birthday.
Sydney
Althought the alarm was set this morning, we both woke well beforehand. When I looked at the time, it was 6:12am so I pulled open the curtains, thinking I might see part of Sydney Harbour on the way past. But no, the view that greeted me was the Sydney International Passenger Terminal!! We were already docked.
The disembarkation process was smooth so we found ourselves back on Australian soil by 8am. We walked the 400 metres to the hotel, realising it would be far too early to check in but at least wanting to drop our bags. After seeking a recommendation for the second best breakfast venue in the area (after theirs, obviously), we headed around the corner for breakfast. Oh, the joy of a decent coffee, made with real milk, not too hot and strong - so you can actually taste the coffee flavour!
By 9:30am we were back on the street, wondering what to do with our day. It was such a lovely warm day, the water was an obvious drawcard - and obviously continuing the theme of our past 8 days! So we took a 2 hour cruise on the harbour, with commentary to make it interesting for Greg. It was a little freaky to sail past the ship we had just got off!
We had a lovely time on the harbour and were back at the hotel at 1:30pm, to find our room ready and bags already there, so we were pleased to enter our lovely spacious room (much bigger than the ship's stateroom!), and I was even more delighted to step onto the balcony and take in the view of the bridge and opera house - well, at least I will be able to see the opera house when our big ship sails out again tonight! It was kind of cool to be at the same level as Deck 12 and it really is so close.
So we caught up on internet and enjoyed the fresh air on the balcony before it was afternoon tea time. Heading out into The Rocks, we found a lovely Frech patisserie. We scored a table outside, and the pastry chef himself recommended a cake to go with my divine coffee (I feel like I still have. Week's worth of coffee to catch up on!). It was lovely.
Back in the hotel, we got changed for dinner and then watched our big ship pull away from dock and sail past the opera house, on it's way out again. We walked into the City to the Sydney Tower for our dinner reservation in the revolving restaurant. Arriving at the perfect time to have one revolution while it was still daylight and then another with the City lights, we enjoyed a delightful meal and needed to walk it off so we walked back to the hotel.
At sea - Friday 16th October
What a great finale tonight! The show was so good, with all the artists getting back on stage to do at least one song each, and then at the end they did a joint song (pretty badly, but they had next to no rehearsal!). We queued from 5pm to get our usual seats and we did with our new friends from Sale. The martini of the day was called Ruby Red so that helped pass the time! It was all a bit sad that this was the end but Pete Denahy (a singer/entertainer from Yackandandah) who hosted all of the shows kept the fun rolling with his terrible jokes and his fill-in comments between artists as they re-set the stage. He made comments about how sad we were all going to be getting off the ship and how long it would take us to readjust to normal life - where our beds don't get made for us every day, where we don't have a personal waiter at the dining table, and where you will actually have to hand over cash for a drink at the bar rather than swiping your SeaPass card.
This was one element of cruising that was very easy (and scary when you get the final bill). No money changes hands on the ship and your SeaPass card (which you wear on a lanyard around your neck) is your room key and your "cash" for anything over and above what was included in the cruise price. In particular - alcohol! And their pathetic attempts at cappucino! It also got you on and off the ship at ports (didn't need our passports), was your ID etc. But it did mean that you didn't have to carry anything around the ship - no handbag, wallet. Hence it was very easy to buy cocktails and get a fright later when you checked your statement on the TV in the room!
We had to pack our bags today and put them outside our room by 11pm (obviously leaving enough for overnight and tomorrow) as we dock quite early in Sydney tomorrow. So we did that before and after dinner, and I finished off while Greg won a heap more money at the casino!
Earlier in the day, we had breakfast with the drummer from the band who supported every act. You have to give them due credit - they had to learn all the music and all the songs of every performer. They were all artists from Australia and have supported many of the artists at various gigs. I did notice they have iPads mounted on their microphone poles which obviously had the music and words. They did an amazing job though. Also at our breakfast table were the friends from the Pakenham couple yesterday who after hearing who I was said "we've heard about you" (from their friends who obviously also commented on the small world). We then did some more shopping and went for a wander before the matinee show today in the main theatre of Amber Lawrence. I really liked her music. We only started for the first half as we had promised ourselves we would eat lunch in the main dining room today, given we have not managed to do so all week! And what a shame we hadn't as they had the most amazing salad bar - even Greg liked it. The problem with the main dining room as a lunch venue was that it closed at 1pm - and when you don't finish breakfast until 10:30am, that's too early!
After lunch we watched the Bushwhackers again - they are an amazing band, and even more amazing that they ar still going after 45 years. Then it was time to change, pack and the grand finale show.
We were looking forward to our final dinner with our table companions and our lovely waiters. I couldn't decide between the scallops or the escargot for entree (the latter had been reccomended to me) so Mariska brought both to me! We had plenty of laughs, a great meals, photos with us all, and then they even brought out a slice of birthday cake for me, and for the young girl on our table whose birthday is a week after mine. It was a great night, but now it really is feeling a little sad that it's all coming to an end and we have to get up so early in the morning to disembark.
At Sea - Thursday 15th October
So, we're at sea, hundreds of miles from land, with a couple of thousand fellow cruisers - none of whom we had met before last Friday. But sitting next to a couple at breakfast this morning, it turns out the guy runs the stock produce store in Pakenham and has done for 40 years, so we used to buy our lucerne and oats from him! We talked about the changes in Pakenham over the years, got onto racing, and then Rotary which realised a few more connections through Bob and Marg. Such a small world - we had a great chat.
After breakky, there were a couple of good performers so we found a couch in front of a porthole and listened to some great voices. I am constantly amazed at the beach/island wear that everyone is wearing - as if they have to because it's a cruise. It was actually raining at one point today but so many of the girls have the summer dresses/sarongs/caftans on because they bought them in Vanuatu or New Caledonia. I've got long pants on today and will put a jumper on before we go up to Deck 12 for a walk.
After several shows it was lunchtime and then we had a quiet afternoon but I don't know where the time went! We read for a bit, went for a walk up on Deck 12 and then also on Deck 5 past the helipad and to the very bow of the boat (for a Cate Blanchett Titanic moment) before it was time to get ready for the show - figuring we really had to get there early tonight to make sure we got our favourite seats.
And we did, which means we had 45 minutes to chat with our usual seat companions. The younger couple had done the galley tour so it was very interesting to hear about that. The bakery onboard bakes 9,000 bread rolls a day! The recycling program was also very interesting - they use a similar concept to Bokashi to break down the food scraps, down to water which then gets released into the sea. They also have a crushing system for bottles, broken china down to powder and then packaged into cubes. It sounded very interesting - I would have liked to have seen it.
Then it was time for Troy and he was good! Very personable and a great entertainer and plenty of opportunities to sing along. The vocal chords of the audience has certainly improved over the 8 days! He also went for a long time, whcih made it a great show, although we did comment at the end that Adam Hervey was probably better.
We had the last night of our specialty dining package today so we headed straight to the Italian restaurant for our dinner. It was actually excellent, and we had a very good waiter. He made me the best cappucino I have had on this cruise!! Still not brilliant, but we're coming from a low base! The tiramisu I had for dessert was almost better then mine - and I reckon that's saying something because I am usually very disappointed by restaurant tiramisu.
After dinner, we went to the casino for Greg's entertainment and he won good money today. That kept him occupied for a while! We then went to a late night (for us!) show which was very funny. The ship was really rocking by that stage and it amused me greatly to see the pool tables - which are also on stabilisers so the table top remains horizontal - at such a different angle to the floor! However, the rocking does contribute to a great night's sleep!
Vila - Vanuatu
A lot of people describe this cruise as a music festival on water. But it's better than that. It is so laid back, and absolutely everybody - including the artists - are so friendly that it really feels like a bunch of your mates getting together for a sing along. Whether you run into a musician at breakfast, in the lift, poolside or anywhere else, they are so approachable and down-to-earth, it just makes the whole experience so much more than a music festival or a cruise.
We actually got up early this morning - for the first time on this cruise! Down in the main dining room by 8am and we were seated with some cattle farmers from Casterton, so the conversation flowed on all things farming - and kelpies, given we all had one and Casterton hosts the annual kelpie festival. Back to the room to sort what we needed for our day in Vanuatu and then we walked off the gangway onto the port, where we were met for our tour of the day. We boarded a minibus and our guide named Arthur was just brilliant. He told us stories - good and bad - about Vila and Vanuatu and showed us the cyclone damage, the repairs, some of the new things and some of the effects on the community. Many of the resorts are not yet open since the cyclone and the lack of tourism is really affecting the country. Which is why they are so pleased to have cruise ships visit. Cruising tourists still spend money but don't need the infrastructure that is still being rebuilt.
On our tour, we went to a village that is run outside the municipal system and still governed by a chief. We went to his house and were welcomed with a traditional dance, a speech and then invited to walk through their local markets. We bought some things as we thought it important to support their business. The houses were fairly rudimentary and many still hadn't been rebuilt. The trees were all quite low as the tall ones were destroyed. We saw a banyan tree with a base width of at least 20 metres that had been completely upended by the cyclone.
Back on the bus and we did drive through a resort that had completely re-opened, but ironically, past another only 1km down the road that was still closed. We went through the poorer parts of town and the old British colonial parts, past the brand new Parliament House and the new solar power plant. Photo opportunities were made available at some of the higher points of town and then we also stopped in the CBD.
Interestingly, there has been very little rain in Vanuatu since the cyclone and the country is very much in drought. Many families cannot afford to feed their children (and cannot grow the produce needed) so they are putting their children up for adoption to give them a better chance at life. Topped with a corrupt government who are doing so many things wrong there is bound to be a revolution of some kind in the not-too-distant future.
We returned to the ship in time for a late lunch and then sat poolside in the sunshine (the warmest day we have had so far) while we sailed out of Port Vila. A group photo was taken and some more music played until we got out of the islands and the wind picked up again. We headed down to one of the cafes for afternoon tea (i have partly solved the terrible coffee quandary by having a double shot) and then we got changed for tonight's theatre performance of Sara Storer.
It seems you have to be earlier and earlier every night to get good seats these days. But we got our usual seats in plenty of time and wiled away the waiting time chatting to our companions - and drinking cocktails! Then Sara started and we loved her show, as she is so down-to-earth and laid back. No glittery outfits for her - she was wearing the same as me in a dress, leggings and a cardigan! Her songs were very real, she tried out some new material on us, and you could actually hear her sing instead of the heavy bass from the backing band that some of the others have used. We really enjoyed her show.
After dinner, it was back to the casino but no huge winnings tonight - at least Greg was still playing on last night's winnings so tonight didn't cost us anything. Into the main dining room for dinner and we had our fun mother/daughter table companions back so we had plenty of laughs and entertainment tonight. We have met so many wonderful people thus far - it is just something else about this cruise that makes it so much more.
(Photo
Lifou - the more detailed version
We were supposed to anchor at about 8am this morning, just off Lifou on Loyalty Island, but it was only
6:30am when I was awoken by sounds just outside our porthole and when I peered outside, I could see a boat being lowered into the water from above us. This ship has four tenders it uses to ferry passengers back and forth and two went past our porthole very early! Still, we didn't see the need to hurry. The ship was spending all day at anchor in Lifou but there are no formal shore excursions organised so we had the day to do whatever we wanted. It was best to go to the island as there were no musical acts playing on board.
However, the rough seas and wind slowed down the boarding of the tenders so it was well after
11am before we boarded our tender and motored our way to the jetty at Lifou. The water was gloriously blue and the sun was nice, although the wind that has been following us this entire trip (and still must be - as I write this the ship is rocking from side to side) was very persistent. We walked up the jetty and the hill to the market stall, which was in a very basic shed. As we walked around the few stalls, there were also some musical performers and dancers, and some tours. We thought it a good idea to see some more of the island so we booked a 45 minute bus tour, which we thought would be good for Greg with a commentary. While waiting, we chatted to a few of our compatriots and then boarded the mini bus with an older man who didn't really speak English, and instead he just drove us to our 3 stops and let us out at each one for a 10 minute stop!! So I did lots of describing to Greg. It's quite a poor place, with basic huts and seemingly limited infrastructure. The jungle is very verdant and grows over anything that isn't maintained.
Our first stop was a traditional thatched and domed hut, whcih must have been used for communal purposes. This was quite a modern one though. It was also interesting to note the volcanic rocks used to make drywall fences. Our second stop was at a boat ramp which was some sort of old recreational area. The view back out over the harbour was lovely! Our third stop was the Catholic Church (a little rundown, with stained glass windows damaged in the last cyclone) which also enabled us to walk down to a little bluff overlooking the harbour, the jetty and our ship (which looked really small from this height!).
Our 45 minute tour turned into an hour sonas we got back to the waterfront, we thought we'd support the local economy a little more by having a snack at a very basic little cafe. We ran into some lovely people from Bundaberg who we'd had breakfast with so we had a beer with them (no food left!) before heading back to the ship for anvery late lunch (4pm!). It was then rest time before the big show
tonight.
The McClymonts were performing
tonight so we made our way to our usual seats early ( the theater fills up even earlier these days!) and enjoyed the girls singing very much. They are just back to performing after one of them had a baby and this was their first Cruisin Country. It was a great show.
Greg wiled away the hour before dinner in the casino and made a tidy profit. We then went up to dinner and had a good meal, with lots of chatter with our waiters, including the lovely Mariska from South Africa who started her shift on Friday when we boarded the ship but she doesn't go home again
until May 1st next year!!
We did a quick walk past some of the venues on our way backut Greg wasn't really intested in any of the performances
tonight so we headed back to our room by
11pm, to get a good night's sleep before Vanuatu tomorrow.
Returning to our room
tonight we marvelled at this elephant creation our room attendant had left us. Both he and our assistant waiter in the main dining room are very clever at folding cloth into animals. For about half an hour
tonight, we were the only two (out of ten!) at our table at dinner so the waietr was talking to us. He is a charming young man from Bali and he asked us if we were on our honeymoon (he must have thought we looked young!!) but when we said no, he said we needed to keep the romance alive so he folded us a rose out of a serviette and placed in a glass on our table. We thought that was good but as he cleared our dinner plates and asked Greg how the garlic prawns were, and Greg said they weren't big enough and that they should have been lobster, our waiter came back 5 minutes later with two serviettes folded to make a lobster. They are lovely people who go out of their way to make you feel special.
Lifou - Loyalty Island, New Caledonia
As I write this, we are sailing away from Lifou, so I won't write the whole day's blog (besides, the day isn't over yet!) but I'll just give you a quick taste of the beauty of this South Pacific Island. We arrived at 8am this morning and it was still quite windy so we weren't in a hurry to go ashore. There is no port here big enough for us so we had to be ferried to the jetty by smaller boats. With the wind and choppy seas, this was quite slow so it was well after 11am before we go across to this beauty!
More to follow!
Day 3 of Cruisin' Country - At Sea
Blog - Sunday 11th October
There's something lovely about the people on this cruise. It could be because they are all here for the same reason and they all want to have a good time, but everyone is so friendly and they just want to have a good time. Everytime we sit down somewhere, we get chatting to new people and they are all lovely. It really does contribute to the great vibe.
Again, we weren't in a hurry to get up this morning so it was after
9am before we made it to the main dining room for breakfast. We lingered over fruit while chatting to some of our dining companions before having a bit of a walk, some reading time and then we headed to the main theatre for the matinee performances of the Bushwhackers and Simply Bushed. We've got our favourite seat in the theatre now and we've worked out you have to get anywhere early if you want a decent seat so we were seated by
11:30am and even I thought that was too early for cocktails so we settled for some soft drinks. The show started
at 12pm and was good value, with both bands putting a lot of effort into their performances. As this show didn't finish until
1:30pm - by which time the main dining room is closed - we all headed upstairs to the buffet. So I found myself chatting to one of the guys from the Bushwhackers at the pizza bar (he plays guitar and is actually the son of one of the frontmen) and sure enough, the rest of the band were in the restauarnt too.
Back to getting in early, we headed down to one of the pubs for the
3pm show, finding seats by
2:30pm. The Viper Creek Band were very popular and had plenty of people up dancing, because people just want to have a good time. This pub is right at the back of the ship so we saw the rain come in and lash down on the back windows. The weather really hasn't been too good so far.
That show went to
4:30pm so we headed back to the room afterwards, for a bit of reading and a change of clothes before we headed back to our favourite seats in the main theatre (again, early) for the
6pm show of McCalister Kemp. They were quite loud and rock-y which Greg didn't like so much. But we bopped along until they finished
at 7:30pm and then headed upstairs as we had a reservation at the speciality Japanese restaurant. The food was divine and we had a lovely young man serving us. The staff on this ship really know about customer service and go to every length to provide a very high standard of service.
We lingered over champers there before heading back down to the casino. I'd left my guide for the night's entertainment in our room so we decided to head back to the room instead. Tomorrow we get to visit land again, which will be quite welcome as the seas were quite high today.
Day 2 of Cruisin' Country - At Sea
People say if you get hungry or bored on a cruise, you've only got yourself to blame. How true!
We were being gently rocked in our bed this morning so we struggled to wake up early. Hence, it was well after
9am before we surfaced to the main dining room for breakfast. We enjoyed eggs benedict and smoked salmon while chatting with our table companions from Mulgrave, Sydney and Townsville. I ordered a capucino (priced at $4US) which was far from great but hey, I needed the caffeine.
After breakfast we wandered through the shops and then ascended to Deck 11 (poolside) where it was quite a cool and overcast day. We checked out the gym before heading to the buffet for a drink. We marvelled at the hoards who were taking advantage of the free food and eating it in copious quantities.
At 1pm we went to the main theatre (which seats nearly 1000 people) to listen to Tracey Killeen. She is a very good singer from Sale who has recently done the Johnny Cash shows. Today she did a tribute show to Patsy Cline. It was pretty good as Tracey has an amazing voice.
We then took another walk around the ship (inside) before heading to one of the pubs for the Bushwackers. Now i know they're old because we used to listen to a tape of theirs in the car in the 80's on the way to horse sales! Sure enough, they confirmed they had recently celebrated their 45th anniversary. And there's a few new faces in the band but four of them are old. Anyway, they perform amazingly and had plenty of people dancing. Even I could remember the bush dance moves we were taught in primary school. That was a lot of fun.
Then ot was afternoon tea time, so we ordered (real) coffees from the coffee bar and something for afternoon tea. However, these coffees were terrible but we did enjoy listening to the open mic while we ate and drank. Then it was back to the room to frock up as
tonight was optional formal night.
So we dressed up and headed to the theatre early for our
6pm show. We found a comfy couch and got chatting to a young couple from Sale who enjoy many of our interests too.
Tonight's entertainment was the O'Sheas, a married couple from Australia who now live in Nashville. They run a CMC TV show which promotes Aussie artists. They put on a good show.
After the show but before dinner was the Captain's reception. There was free champagne and the Captain told us a bit about his boat. The ships holds 2200 people and currently has 2100 Aussies on board!! Plus 850 crew.
We are on the late sitting for dinner so we headed into the dining room
at 8:30pm and met some of our dining companions. We enjoyed lobster bisque for entree then I had prawn ravioli (which was nice, but not enough) and Greg had beef sliders. Just before dessert two waiters behind us had an accident which resulted in Greg suddenly wearing lemon meringue pie. They cleaned Greg up before presenting us with a complimentary laundry voucher to have his clothes cleaned.
We then had our own desserts before heading to the casino to wile away some more moeny and time. All in all, a pretty good day.
Sailing out of Sydney Harbour
We boarded the ship mid afternoon and it looked beautiful. We went straight to our room, hoping our luggage wasn't too far away. We were met by our room attendant and sure enough, he brought our bags not too much later. So we were able to unpack fully and get settled, before heading up to the pool deck for the welcome party. It was actually a bit cool up there so we tried to find a spot out of the wind, drank their complimentary beers, listened to their entertainment before heading indoors. I managed to see this massive ship pull away from the dock, reverse up to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and then move forwards past the Opera House. I'll post some photos when we have better service.
Having headed indoors, we went to the main theatre for our first show. Given we are scheduled for late dining in the main dining room, that means we can see the early show and tonight it was Amber Lawrence. I'd never heard her before but I really liked her sound so it was a shame we had to leave early to go to our dinner reservation in one of the specialty restaurants.
It was an American steakhouse and it was actually very good. We had starters and a large chunk of filet mignon each, so we couldn't even fit dessert in. We then found the casino for Greg to play the pokies. However, at the end of a very big week, we headed to bed early instead of seeking out some of the other musicians who were playing at four of the venues across the ship. It doesn't look like we'll ever be bored on this cruise!
What a massive ship!!
We've arrived in Sydney and are having coffee at the terminal (after having dropped off our bags) while we wait until 3pm to check in. After getting the 2am text message from Qantas that we had been upgraded to Business Class (bonus!!), we got to the airport in plenty of time to enjoy morning tea in the Qantas Lounge. Then we leisurely boarded the plane and enjoyed our seats at the pointy end of the plane - including the fabulous early lunch. I figured that I was on holidays and it must have been 12 o'clock somewhere in the world so I had some champers with mine!
It was a smooth trip to the International Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay and the excitement is building! We took this photo at the bow of the boat and can't get over how big it is!
For those interested in our itinerary, we're at sea for the rest of the weekend. On Monday we stop at Lifou on Loyalty Island from 8am to 5pm. On Tuesday we're at Port Vila in Vanuatu from 8am to 3pm and on Wednesday we're in Noumea, New Caledonia from 10am to 7pm. We then spend the rest of the week sailing back to Sydney, docking next Saturday.
It is a beautiful sunny afternoon in Sydney so the departure out through Sydney Harbour tonight should be fabulous!
And we're off again!
Bags are packed, everything checked and we're going cruisin' - country style!
Now, we've never cruised before but a country music cruise sounds pretty special so tomorrow morning we fly to Sydney to board the Radiance of the Seas for an 8 night cruise through the South Pacific, with 45 country music artists onboard to entertain us. Should be great! Stay tuned for stories of our adventures!!
