Debarkation



Sydney from the Sea Princess

Last Day Onboard with Jim and Gail

             Thursday, 18 Oct 2012 – We set our alarm clock for 6:45 AM; however, the noise from the ship as it docked woke us up around before 6:00 AM.  We called Gail and Jim and met them for breakfast.  It was great getting to spend our last few hours on board the ship with them.  We disembarked around 9:45 AM.   The lines through immigration and customs moved very quickly, so we were at our hotel by 10:00 AM.  However, since check in was not until 2:00 PM, we stowed our bags in the hotel storage room and went out to explore Sydney.  When we needed to make a rest stop, we found Curve Café Bar, where we relaxed with mugs of hot chocolate for a considerable time.  We also surveyed the area for small convenience stores for breakfast groceries before walking more.  We walked to Chinatown and through Market City, a huge building, which looks just like an indoor flea market selling all products from China without named brands.  Sally had a hard time getting Jesse to leave.  We ran into several familiar-looking Sea Princess cruisers, who always recognized us, since we are such a memorable couple.  We finally checked in at 2:17 PM, but were probably nearly the last of those waiting.  The hotel storage room door had been left open to the sidewalk, and only one other set of luggage was left sitting there besides ours.  The hotel attendant said “Someone” had left the door open, but we knew he was the only “someone” who could have done it.  Luckily, everything was still there.  We pulled our luggage to the very slow elevator, and then to our room on the fourth floor, at the far end of the corridor around a corner and down four steps!

Chinatown

Market City

The room is small, but comfortable.  It is equipped with a coffee maker, alarm clock, and TV, but no telephone.  This was disappointing because we had planned to contact our Reno friends regarding a meeting for drinks.  However, we have fast Internet!  The sink and storage areas are almost microscopic, and we won’t bother trying to hang our clothes!  After resting up, we walked back Chinatown for dinner.  Sally immediately asked for forks, and Jesse soon used one, too.  Afterwards, we walked to a “Sydney Paradise Supermarket” for groceries, then back to the hotel where we called it an early night.