For The Love of Travel

An observation we’ve made is that we need to factor in at least 1/2 hour after berthing to disembark…if at the front of the queue line.  This time we exited efficiently but then there was a hold up at Melb immigration, as they wanted to process international visitors first (so we patiently waited in a huge queue…and waited…until that occurred. Why didn’t Princess staff know of that expectation? Grrrr.

Got an Uber to our Forest Therapy session at the Botanical Gardens…but because of the Marathon being held and associated road closures, had to travel from Sth Melb along Queens Rd to Chapel St, turn left and then made our way along Punt Rd to Domain Rd to access the visitor centre. Gave the Uber driver some extra $ for his troubles. 

We needed the tree hugging and sensory enrichment experience to destress after all that. 

Couldn’t get an Uber to find us in the Gardens with all the road closures, so with ‘more front than Myers’, cheekily asked a driver close by, if they might be going along Punt Rd and could drop us off at Bridge Rd so we could catch a tram into the city? Yes, said Dean. Phew! Lynne was excited to sit in the back seat accompanying Ancho, a kelpie who has a fondness for and eagerly anticipates trains and stations apparently. Dropped us off at Jolimont station. 

Onwards to the Ritz Carlton for a high tea with spectacular views over Melb from the 80th floor. Beautiful presentation and moreish.

We could see our ship at Port Melb dwarfing the Spirit of Tasmania at the opposite dock. 

On the way back to the ship, lots of colorful characters in the city, attending the Pax (gamers) festival.

Scared Weird Little Guys entertained us again with a new show – loved their song about all the hits of the 90’s; and their impression of different artists’ singing Waltzing Matilda ( eg. in Coldplay, Em and Em, Elvis, Garfunkel, Katy Perry’s style).

We are having a fun start to oboard ‘activities’. Firstly an archery contest against crew with floaty ball targets in the plastic structure….12:12 all.

Next, pampering with complimentary mini facials with collagen eye and skin treatments. Its an Elemis product. Loved the oil based cleansing product in partcular and will investigate Restylane hydrolonic acid and thermage radio frequency therapy on return home – to reduce skin pigmentation and wrinkles. Absurd cost for the latter on board.

Then a ‘Walking with Comfort’ session with Lynne; has her convinced to get some orthotics to improve her gait and reduce if not eliminate pain. 

The class on improving metabolism provided an interesting explanation of acidity/alkalinity in body and how best to retain optimal PH. Doing a metabolism analysis with him. 

There is a fun 20 question general trivia show each afternoon ‘Let’s get quizzical’…sub optimal score of 9/20 this time. Hopefully we will improve.

We’ve seen some delightful performances at night too:

• Steven Schwartz’s ‘Music to Do’ revue, combining his most favorite songs from Godspell, Wicked and Pippin, with magic. The Princess crew did a great job with singing, dancing and magic tricks.
• Jeff Green, comedian, entertained us again with his new show – different jokes, but familiar themes – e.g.latest examples of interactions with wife and sons.

I was also excited to discover a lovely alternate breakfast menu on Level 5, with great coffee! 

Met up with Lynne at the airport yesterday and we had a restful night at the Hyde Park Inn. Sydney boarding was really efficient today, despite 3,125 fellow travellers needing to be “processed”. Off on our 28 day crusie…woo hoo!

Filipino seafarers form the backbone of the global cruise industry, so it was no suprise that our crew was drawn from that community. Sydney really turned on the weather, and there were lovely views over the harbour from Level 15.

It’s a massive ship, with 19 levels. Only Level 7 runs straight through from aft to starboard; otherwise, you need to use different stairs and lift wells to reach particular areas. For example, Lynne and I had two lift access points from our stateroom on Level 12. The aft lift took us to breakfast and dinner each day, after what we’ve come to call “the Botticelli long walk”.

Groan: dinner time meant a long queue to get into the Botticelli restaurant. Some diners had no booking, while most of us had pre-booked online. You’d think they would have allocated tables to the pre-bookers beforehand, but no — staff were assigning them randomly, on the spot. Dinner itself was relaxed and well paced, with delightful hospitality staff.

At 9 pm, comedian Jeff Green gave an amusing performance in the theatre. A minor crisis arose when we got back to our room and Lynne thought she’d left her bag — with her phone and wallet inside — at the restaurant. So off we went at 10 pm to Guest Services on Level 5, where we waited in a queue for another half hour. Disappointingly, we were told the restaurant staff hadn’t brought up any bags that evening. Back in the room, we discovered she’d left it in the bathroom — which we hadn’t checked before heading downstairs. Phew, crisis averted!

An early-morning 6:50 am trudge to Level 5 to get coffees for us. Breakfast at 8:30, once again with a long queue. Getting off the ship in Newcastle was a chaotic process. We were sent to one end of Level 7 to collect numbered tickets, then told to wait on Level 4, 5 or 6 until our group number was announced before heading to the gangway. Lucky we didn’t have any excursions planned.

We visited the Newcastle visitor centre and did some self-guided walks to see the street art and architecture, then took the light rail to the beach. There was a beautiful Morton Bay fig; Lynne gives you a sense of its size, sitting on one of the sizeable meandering roots.

We caught a bus to Adamstown to meet friend Robin at the ‘Local Customs’ Café. Delicious prawn tacos and a sensational Spring Elixir — cloudy apple, fresh ginger, rosemary, honey, lemon and apple cider vinegar.

Scared Weird Little Guys were tonight’s very popular entertainment.