Cruise day! The rain was hammering on the window when we woke, so we were doubly glad that we had arrived two days early. Flying in on cruise departure day carries a degree of risk that merely adds to the stress levels, as a couple of Kiwis found out, when their aircraft had to keep circling the airport.
Breakfast once again with Mirella and Ray, but a slightly lighter one than yesterday. Check out from the Ibis is 11am and we’d had a text to say cruise check in was 12:30, even though as black card, Elite passengers, we do get preferred check in anyway.
In the steady rain, we wheeled our cases outside, ready to lug them down the kerb and cross the hotel entrance to the taxi rank outside. Note that there is no ramp from the pavement… However, before we could move the cases, a hotel employee asked the driver of a Toyota people mover if he wanted to take us. He accepted and we accepted the trip to White Bay cruise terminal, so we piled in at 11:00.
As we had done the journey to White Bay terminal before, we expected about a 10 minute ride. We were happily chatting away to the youngish Pakistani taxi driver and meanwhile I was aware that he was going a very roundabout route and we seemed to be perpetually bogged down in the heavy traffic. When I saw the Sydney opera house ahead I asked if he knew that it was White Bay and shouldn’t we be heading over the Anzac Bridge? His face dropped and the chat stopped as he fished out his mobile and obviously started searching for White Bay… A telephone call followed and it was obvious that he had no idea where the cruise terminal was, so quick U-turn in a side street and we started heading back. He apologised and said he thought it was the International Terminal.
When crossing Anzac Bridge, he seemed oblivious of the 77,000 tonne Sea Princess moored to our right and asked if it was one of the craft moored to our left, which were mainly launches.
We arrived at the terminal an hour after leaving the hotel and as his wasn’t a marked taxi, we were directed to the public car park. He was all apologetic and when I asked the fare, he kindly asked us to pay what we thought, which was very gracious.
Anyway, from then on, it was just a matter of dumping two cases for drop off; straight to check in after filling in the mandatory health declaration to say that we didn’t have leprosy or the bubonic plague; issued with our cruise card.
We were given a group “E” preferred boarding pass and at that time, they were already boarding group “C”. Just as we went through, immigration, they started calling the non-preferred check in, so the queue for the scanners doubled. No problem here and we didn’t have to take the electronics out of the hand luggage (the bottle of port went through OK) and then we were up and on to our new holiday home for the next few weeks. Although we haven’t been on the Sea Princess before, as a sister ship to the Dawn and the Sun Princesses, it was like being at our regular winter holiday home.
After dumping our hand luggage, we headed up to the Horizon Court buffet (of course), the intent as always for a light snack. The lamb curry and deep fried crumbed prawns proved irresistible. The layout of the Horizon court has been modified slightly with all the hot stuff on one side, so that now includes the two soups.
The rest of the afternoon we just fluffed around other than a coffee and trading in our minibar for two coffee cards. Every staff member seemed to want to sell us a coffee card and the 15% surcharge/tip now added is obviously a staff incentive.
Our luggage arrived OK before the mandatory life jacket/safety briefing, then the Captain made the announcement we were all hoping for, well, those on second sitting anyway, “the ship would depart at 6pm rather than 5pm” so that we could enjoy the Sydney ‘Vivid’ lights. Traditionally, the first night has always been open dining, but this time, they stuck to the standard dining times so those on early, sitting totally missed the light show. Coloured lights throughout the harbour buildings changing colours, the bridge also lit up with LED lighting - and even projected images on the Sydney Harbour Bridge tower, various land based sculptures also lit, plus images projected onto the Sydney Opera House made this one on of the most stunning departures we have ever experienced. The rain eased for a while too and not long after we’d passed the bridge, we started feeling the effects of a 7m swell and a stiff wind.
We opted for the buffet and a fairly light meal but considering the number of days/nights we have had at sea, this was soon amongst the worst – which made it doubly upsetting for those only doing the two days to Melbourne or the seven days to Perth, as cruise tasters! Definitely not typical.
Sadly, a couple in the theatre for the opening theatre show, saw their last meal again, but the clean-up crew were extremely quick to come in and clean up whilst the show went on. Normally, the opening show is an introduction to the production cast as well as a taster for the following night’s act “The Lion’s Den”. Due to the ship’s movement, the dancers didn’t put in an appearance, but the three Australian based Philipino harmony singers (who we have seen before) put on a top quality, very professional act.
On to bed a bit early for us, though Paula did get up again to take a seasickness pill, just in case.
At least we set off OK and with no problems, a great start.
There are minor differences between the Dawn Princess and the Sea Princess (mainly in décor and procedures), but I’ll touch on those later.
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