At Sea and Disembarkation

At Sea

            In the early morning hours of Saturday, 13 December, we had been “shaken awake” several times because the sea had been very rough during the night, as the captain had warned.  When it finally happened at 10:00 AM, we decided to get up.  Soon afterward, we went to breakfast, where we ran into Tony and Sue, whom we had met early during the cruise, but didn’t remember their names; they reintroduced themselves.  (Of course, everyone seems to remember us, being such an unusual couple.)  We also sat next to a couple from North Carolina, who also seemed to remember us.  They will be on the flight with us from Sydney to Dallas.

            Although originally we had intended to go for a swim after breakfast, both of the large pools had been closed and drained for maintenance; workmen were cleaning the lining and touching up the paint.  However, with the sea so rough, the water probably would have been dangerously sloshing from one end to the other, so the pools might have been closed anyway.  Besides, the outside air was cool, so that fewer people were sitting outside near the pools where they often congregate.  Therefore, we spent the afternoon relaxing in our cabin and then went to the Horizon Court for a light lunch before we started packing for our trip home.

            Before we left Iowa, Sally had studied the temperatures possibilities in various parts of Australia (and Bali) – and not being one who enjoys Florida in the summertime, she had been dreading the expected very hot climate.  Particularly Bali, Darwin, and Brisbane are often extremely hot in summer like Phoenix, AZ but with extremely high humidity (and it is summer here in December).  However, we were extremely lucky because it was never as hot as it might have been in any of those places.  Also, it helped that we were often in the shade, or it was cloudy (as most of the time in Bali).  On the morning of our Brisbane visit, Sally had started out wearing shorts; however, when she realized the weather was going to be cloudy and rather cool, she changed clothes before leaving the ship.  If there is a wind blowing from the south anywhere in Australia, it seems to be a reminder that Antarctica lies to the south.

            We finished the majority of our packing and placed our two large suitcases in the hallway for collection before going to dinner at 7:00 PM.  There, we joined Craig and Sylvia, a young couple with two pre-teen children; they live in New Castle, which is about 150 miles north of Sydney.  Since they boarded the ship in Brisbane and would be disembarking in Sydney, they would spend only two nights onboard.  They have been on 10 cruises, and have taken their children on many of them, including their next cruise over the Christmas holidays.  From mid-December to mid-January, their children are on their summer break; then, they have a two-week break in June; after which, they progress to the next grade.  They have traveled a lot in America and have taken their children to Disneyland; however, Craig is a chemical engineer and has also traveled to America to attend conferences.

Wheelhouse Bar with Dick, Peggy, Mary, and Paul

            After dinner we met Paul and Mary in the Wheelhouse Bar and, after the Soul Wave went on break, we said our goodbyes to the Soul Wave (Amber and Roland), Paul and Mary, and Dick, and Peggy.  On our way out, a lady named Janelle from New South Wales, introduced herself and told us how much she had enjoyed watching us dance every night.  She used to love to dance, but can’t dance anymore due to her physical condition.  Afterwards, we returned to our cabin and prepared for Sunday’s disembarkation.

 Disembarkation

On Sunday, December 14 we awoke to our alarm at 5:45 AM.  Since it was after 1:15 when Sally fell asleep (and even later for Jesse), when the alarm sounded, Sally thought there was a mistake because it had to be the middle of the night.  However, the motion of the ship had stopped, and we were already docked at the Circular Quay in Sidney.  Soon we rushed to breakfast.  There, to our surprise, our friends, Paul and Mary, showed up and sat down at our table with us!  Thus, we were able to say our goodbye’s to them a second time.  Since our departure time from the ship was scheduled for 7:55, we made haste first back to our cabin, where we put away both laptops and stuffed all the last items into our two smaller, carry-on suitcases; and then to our “preferred” meeting place.  When our “Red 1” group was called, we disembarked and soon found our large suitcases.  After fastening together all of our luggage so that we could haul it a short distance to a waiting bus, we boarded the bus transporting us to the Sydney airport. The bus left port at 8:30 AM, and it was a fairly short ride.

Just inside the airport doors, we stopped to re-shuffle items from where we had stashed them earlier so that liquids would be in appropriate places for security, etc.  After our last long flight Jesse had decided he needed a neck pillow; when we walked through the shopping area, a sign announced “2 for $20,” he decided to buy one.  However, if a person wanted to buy only one pillow, it would cost $18.00 AUD.  (Now, between the two of us, we have 3 neck pillows.)  Since our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until nearly 3:30 PM, we found a place to sit not too far from our gate; admittance to the actual gate was restricted until a particular flight is announced.   After sitting for a while, Jesse decided to look for a bookstore.  We usually buy tour books as souvenirs from our cruises, but had not been able to find one for the entire country of Australia.  He found one in an airport bookstore for $25.00 AUD.  We started feeling little hungry about 1:00 PM, so Jesse purchased two cappuccinos for $8.00 AUD.  Now we have only $58.20 AUD left to use during our next trip to Australia.

We boarded our flight at about 2:45 PM for Dallas-Fort Worth and took off a half hour later.  For the next 15 hr. 20 min. we were treated well with complimentary wine with our dinner, several snacks during the evening/night, and finally breakfast.  During the flight, the young man who sat by Sally next to the window never said a word the entire time; Jesse wondered if he might have been an air marshal because the staff appeared to know his choices for food without asking him.

We landed on time (1:45 PM Sunday, Dallas time – or 6:45 AM Monday, Sydney time) at the DFW airport exhausted, but had to process through security, customs, and baggage retrieval and recheck.  When we saw that the gate for our flight to Peoria was not yet listed because the flight was still several hours away, we camped out on seats from which we could access the Internet.  While there, we received a call from American Airlines that our 8:40 PM flight for Peoria had been canceled.  From this point, the situation went downhill.

We went to stand in the fairly long line at the desk that handled scheduling problems.  When we were nearly at the front of the line, the person at the desk announced that he was handling his last customer and then would leave and be replaced in 5 minutes by the next person – and a woman, his replacement, finally arrived in about 10 minutes.  She made reservations for us on a flight the next day to Peoria.  Also, she told us that since our flight to Peoria was cancelled due to weather (fog in Peoria), the airline would not put us up for the night; however, the hotel would give us a “distressed passenger discount” because of our being stranded.  She gave us the name and phone number of a hotel that still had a vacancy: Elegante´ Hotel & Suites.  When asked about the availability of a shuttle to the hotel, she replied that there was no shuttle.  There had been another couple behind us in our exact situation, but when we saw them later, they had decided to find help at another gate because the woman waiting on us didn’t seem to know what she was doing.  Next, we ate a light dinner at Popeye’s (visible from that desk), and then went outside for a taxi to take us to the hotel.  After twenty minutes and $34 taxi fare, the taxi delivered us to Elegante´ Hotel & Suites.  When checking in, we discovered that the hotel does have a shuttle “every hour on the hour.”  As far as we were concerned, the airline service desk earned a minus grade in the quality of their service.  We never saw the other couple again, so we wondered how they had fared.
 

Elegante´ Hotel & Suites Lobby

The hotel room cost $79, but was more luxurious than we would normally have for only one night’s stay.  Of course, since most of our luggage had been checked through to Peoria and we had packed mindful of security, not for a possible overnight stay somewhere.  Therefore, Sally had her dancing shoes but not bedroom slippers; and she wore the same shirt the second day that had soup spots on it from the first day!  The hotel did provide us with toothpaste and Jesse with a razor.  Luckily, our toothbrushes were in our carry-on suitcases.  The other positives were that we were asleep about 3 hours sooner than if we had continued to Peoria and then driven home; and the hotel had a great breakfast the next morning, after we had slept for 12 hours! 

When we boarded the plane for Peoria, we found that our seats were not side-by-side, even though our seats were “A” and “C,” which are often together.  In this case, “A” was a lone seat on one side of the aisle, and “B” and “C” were together on the right side.  Jesse asked a man already seated in the window seat on the right if he would mind changing to the lone seat, so that we could sit together.  He kindly obliged.  However, when we soon realized that our seat had a lot of leg room (because of empty space back of a wall) while the poor man across the aisle was sitting with his knees cramped into the usual small space, Jesse apologized and said if he was too cramped, he could have his seat back; we hadn’t realized the space difference.  But, more obliging than some people, he didn’t seem to mind.  Again, the woman who assigned our seats should have checked the seat layout.

When we arrived at Peoria, we were very happy to see that our luggage had already arrived on an earlier flight.  Although it was raining lightly, it was in the high 40’s (it had been 50 degrees there earlier in the day), so that Jesse didn’t freeze to death in his sweater and windbreaker when he rode in the parking lot shuttle to our minivan.  However, during the ride Jesse realized that he had forgotten his keys, so he had to ride back for the terminal and then ride to the minivan a second time!  Also, Jesse couldn’t remember exactly where he had parked the vehicle 33 days ago, and neither did another passenger in the shuttle.  So the shuttle driver drove through the parking areas while Jesse and the other passenger clicked their remotes and watched for blinking lights.  Ironically, Jesse and the other passenger were parked right next to each other!  After the two-hour drive to Bettendorf and a quick stop at a grocery store, we arrived home about 7:30 PM.

Signing off at the end of another lovely and relaxing cruise (and an exhausting trip home)!

At Sea and Brisbane

At Sea

            On Thursday, 11 December Jesse awoke at 6:30 AM and worked on the computer.  Since Sally had had trouble falling asleep, she slept late and we went to breakfast very late.  Then at noon, Jesse went down to Club Fusion to check out New Vogue Dancing.   Although that’s something they do in Australia, we have been told that it is worldwide, though not apparently in America.  Anyway, it looks similar to country and western pattern dancing, except that the music is similar to ballroom music.  In the early afternoon, we went for a swim.  When we decided to go for a light lunch at about 3:30 PM, only a snack line was open by then and we both had a bowl of Japanese noodle soup.  However, Jesse put too much red pepper in his soup and was unable to finish it; therefore, except for an ice cream cone afterward, he really did eat light for a change!  While eating, we sat next to another couple and discussed our cruise plans.  They would really like to go to Egypt, but no ships are going there right now.  When we told them that we had been there twice, they asked us a lot of questions about Egypt and about our cruise.  Our conversation was interrupted when Peggy came over to our table and started talking about dancing.  (We hope we didn’t insult the other couple; good manners seem to be very important to Australians.)

            For dinner, we shared a table with Maureen and John, from Queensland, and Yvonne, from New South Wales.  Although Maureen and John have known each other for many years, they just met Yvonne on this cruise and had quickly become close friends.  Yvonne recently retired from her job as general manager of an engineering company, although her background is accounting.  Her father was American soldier who had been stationed in Australia during WWII.  After the war, he returned to Australia and married her mother, and together they had eight children.  Yvonne has dual citizenship and has traveled extensively in America.  Both Maureen and John expressed great appreciation for soldiers who have fought in the wars (including Vietnam), and especially for Americans for coming to their aid in both World Wars.

            After dinner, we went to the Wheelhouse Bar for dancing, where we danced a few times with Paul and Mary, and with also Kevin and Martha.  After the Soul Wave went on break, we said our goodbyes to Kevin, Martha, John, and Annie, who would all be disembarking in Brisbane, along with 246 other passengers.  They will be replaced by 240 passengers who will be boarding in Brisbane.  After returning to our cabin, we tried downloading our e-mail, but the Internet was very slow, so we logged off and retired for the night.

Brisbane

            On Friday, 12 December, we awoke to our alarm at 7:30 AM, downloaded our e-mail, and went to breakfast in the Horizon Court.  Since we ate the usual amount of breakfast that we have been eating much later in the morning, afterwards we felt really stuffed.

As pre-arranged, Jim and Gail were waiting for us on the pier; we said our hellos and made our way to their vehicle.  We found their vehicle unusual.  It had two rows of seats like a regular car, but there was a truck bed at the rear of the vehicle, which was covered by a truck bed lid.  The vehicle was manufactured in Australia by General Motors, but is not sold in America.

Kangaroo Point

            While Jim drove us through Brisbane streets, they described the sights.  However, we mostly just talked about cruising and recalled memories of our 2012 Pacific Cruise.  We drove through New Farm Park and then made a photo stop at Kangaroo Point, where we had a great view of the Brisbane River.  They pointed to the areas that had flooded in 1974 and 2012.  Apparently these floods occur every 30 or 40 years, and make most upper Mississippi River floods seem minor in comparison. 


Mt. Coot-Tha

We drove past wool shipping and storage buildings, which have been converted to expensive housing units.  Wool was Brisbane’s main export for many years, but has now been replaced by mining.  Also, we stopped by a Discount Chemist Warehouse (drugstore) so that we could replenish our supply of cold medication; then we continued on to Mt. Coot-Tha, where we had a great view of Brisbane.  Although Jim and Gail had burgers for lunch at one of the restaurants, we just had tea, since we still felt overstuffed from our breakfast.  While we were sitting outside at the restaurant, it started pouring rain; and when it started splashing on us, we moved inside, where we talked for a couple of hours.  On the restaurant grounds, we followed a brightly colored wild turkey until Jesse could get his photo.  Gail says they live everywhere here and tear up people’s yards.  Finally, Gail thought we had better head back to the ship, just to make sure we didn’t get held up by some unexpected traffic jam.  Back at the pier, we said our goodbyes and re-boarded the ship at about 4:00 PM.  Our tour of Brisbane was great, but we mostly enjoyed spending time with our friends, Jim and Gail.  We will all be together again in September 2015, when we will be on another Princess cruise!  Although we were still not very hungry, we went up to the Horizon Court for a light lunch so that we wouldn’t be famished by dinner.

Fisherman's Island Cruise Terminal

            For dinner, we joined a large, round table with three other couples and one single person.  We had shared a table with the single woman, Madine, previously, and remembered that she is an artist.  The couple next to Sally was Bob and Gail, from New South Wales, and across the table from us was Barry, who was celebrating his birthday.   We didn’t catch the names of the others.  With such a large table, Sally was not able to hear much of the conversation and was glad when dinner was over.  After dinner we went to the Wheelhouse Bar and danced to the Diamond Princess Orchestra.   The orchestra was a little too large for the Wheelhouse Bar, so the music was much too loud.  After watching Paul perform a few magic tricks (one of his hobbies), we returned to our cabin by 10:30 PM.  Before retiring for the night, we set our clock and watches forward by one hour.  Although Brisbane and Sydney appear to be about the same latitude, Sydney is on daylight savings time, and Brisbane is not – hence the time difference.

At Sea and Airlie Beach

At Sea

On Tuesday, 9 December, we went to breakfast at about 10:00, for a swim at 12:00, and for lunch at 3:00 PM.   The Internet access appears to be a lot faster now, perhaps because many of the Platinum and Elite passengers have exhausted their “free” Internet minutes; at any rate, the Internet is faster.

Since tonight was a formal night, we dressed in our formal attire and went to dinner at 6:45 PM.  Although the Captain’s Farewell Cocktail Party was scheduled for 7:00, we decided to forego the “free” drinks and go directly to the Savoy Dining Room for dinner, where we joined Norman and Pearl at a table for four.  They live a few miles north of Sydney in Newcastle, New South Wales, but were originally from South Africa, where Pearl worked for the British Embassy.  Norman retired from the newspaper business.  He talked a lot about his interviews for newspaper articles.  If he found out that interviewees were lying to him, he would refuse to interview them again; those that he reported on trusted that he would write truthful articles and always granted him future interviews.  He also talked about all of the parties to which he accompanied people whom he interviewed, especially embassy officials – lots of free drinks.  Norman believes the days of newspapers are numbered, due to competition from the Internet.

After dinner, we danced to the Soul Wave in the Wheelhouse Bar, where we also talked a little with Paul and Mary.   Mary looked and felt better than she did the previous night, though she still has painful swelling.

Airlie Beach

            On Wednesday, 10 December we went to breakfast at 10:00 AM after downloading our e-mail.   Although we had considered going for a swim, neither of us felt up to it.  We went for a quick lunch at 11:30.

Since Airlie Beach is an “anchorage” port, we left the cabin to board one of the ship’s tenders at 12:45 PM for our scheduled 1:15 excursion meet-up time.  On our way there, we realized that we had forgotten our cash and credit cards, and also that Jesse had made a miscalculation.  Although we always aim to arrive at the excursion meet-up point 30 minutes early, this time he forgot to include 30 minutes for the tender ride to the pier – we should have left our cabin no later than 12:15!   Luckily, when we arrived at the pier at 1:27 PM, the bus had waited for us.  (Although the scheduled departure time was not until 1:45 PM, drivers always leave as soon as all passengers have arrived.)  We were the last to board and chose, from the three sets of empty seats, the one closest to the front.

The tender had dropped us off at Whitsunday’s Abel Point Marina.  Although Whitsunday is not a word that Americans use, it is another name for Pentecost Sunday, the seventh Sunday after Easter.  In 1770, Captain Cook discovered the island on Whitsunday, thus its name.
 

Whitsunday Coffee Plantation

 Scratching Boss - 35-Yr-Old Cockatoo

Our tour guide, Nola, doubled as the bus driver.  Our first stop was the Whitsunday Coffee Plantation.  The coffee industry flourished around the late 1880's but took a blow when tea drinking became more popular with the Australian masses.  However, these days coffee is back at number one and the Whitsunday Gold Coffee Plantation now farms 35 hectares of premium Arabica coffee.  One of the owners boarded the bus and acted as our tour guide to tell us about traditional and modern coffee production.  We first stopped next to one of the fields, where she described the plants, growing season, harvesting, etc.  Then we stopped at the coffee mill and store, where she described the shelling and roasting process.  There, we were also served cake and our choice of complimentary black coffee, cappuccino, iced coffee, or hot chocolate.  (Sally chose cappuccino; Jesse chose iced coffee.)  If we had not forgotten our credit cards, we might have purchased some of the coffee beans.  However, the coffee is available online, and if shipping costs aren’t excessive, we might order some.

Next, we traveled through the town of Cannonvale to the large sugar cane fields surrounding Proserpine.  Although we have always pictured sugar cane as growing very high, this cane was not more than about two feet high.  Our guide told us it was probably only about 3 or 4 months old.  The cane is later cut, but then grows back; new is planted only after a few years. 

Proserpine Historical Museum

In Proserpine, we toured the small Proserpine Historical Museum, which chronicles the history of the Whitsunday Island's sugar and cattle industries.  Touring the museum we viewed many antiques including a steam locomotive called "Digger" that served in Europe during World War I, before ending its career in the sugar cane fields in the 1920s.   Near the museum entrance, a TV was showing a cricket game in process.  Since neither of us knows much about cricket, two Aussie passengers attempted to describe the rules of the game to us, without much success.

On our return trip to the pier, we rode past Cannonvale beach, where the bus paused so we could take a few pictures, and past the Airlie Beach boutiques and cafes.  After the bus dropped us off at the pier, we boarded one of the ship tenders and started our return trip to the ship.  The trip took a little extra time, since there was some sort of sail boat race in process, and we had to go out our way to avoid interfering with the race.  It seemed a long trip, in the very hot interior of the tender, but Sally didn’t want to sit in the sun on top.

We shared dinner with Max and Gail from Brisbane, and Margaret and Elizabeth from Northern New South Wales.  Although Max and Gail have been cruising only since they retired in 2008, they have already racked up 50 or so cruises; however, this is only their third Princess Cruise.  They have also visited 48 US states – all except Kansas and Kentucky.  Although they paid for a round trip cruise from Sydney, they will be getting off in Brisbane.  Max, who provided interesting conversation, sat next to Sally; therefore, she was able to hear and enjoyed dinner conversation much more than usual.  Margaret has been on three cruises and Elizabeth has been on seven – all on Princess.  After dinner, we met Paul and Mary in the Wheelhouse Bar and danced until 10:00 PM before retiring for the night.

At Sea and Port Douglas

At Sea

On Saturday, 6 December, Jesse awoke at 7:30 AM for his daily e-mail download and awoke the second time at 9:30 AM.  After our excursion to Darwin, Sally was exhausted and slept even later.  We went to a late breakfast and then for a swim after 1:00 PM.  In the pool and hot tub, we conversed with Lynn from Brisbane for a long time, so that it was 3:00 PM by the time we made it to lunch.  There we talked with Brian and Julia until almost 5:30 PM.  They also introduced us to two of their friends, Lyle and Maureen.  Looking back, we spent a great deal of time today just talking with friends we have made onboard.

At dinner, we shared a table with Bevin and Beverly from Adelaide, whom we had met previously, and Peter and Kay from New South Wales.  We didn’t finish dinner until 9:15, and when we went to the wheelhouse Bar, the Soul Wave had just started their break; therefore, we returned to our cabin without dancing and Jesse watched Transcendence on TV before retiring for the night.

2nd Day At Sea

On Sunday, 7 December, Jesse awoke at 3:30 AM to download the e-mail and then worked on the computer for a couple of hours before returning to bed.  Although Sally awoke at 9:30 AM, Jesse slept until 10:00 and we went to breakfast at 10:30 AM.  Jesse spoke briefly with a young black man who said he was from Indiana, and Jesse remarked that there aren’t many of us on this cruise.  By “us,” Jesse meant “Americans;” however, since he and his wife are the only other (obvious) black passengers on the ship, we wondered if the young man had misinterpreted the comment.

We went for a swim at 12:30 AM and then, instead of going to lunch, we attended the Afternoon Tea Dance, with the Soul Wave.  There, we drank tea and ate finger sandwiches, pastries, and cookies.  However, most of the time, we were on the dance floor.  Peggy started dancing with one of the waiters, who was actually a pretty good dancer; however, he really should have put down his tray first because he ended up spilling milk all over the dance floor, which the waiters had quite a job cleaning up.  Although Peggy tried to help, the waiters waved her away.

At dinner we sat by Gail and Archie from Florida, and Jenny and Bevil from Australia.  Gail and Archie were originally from Nebraska, but then taught for 30 years in upstate New York before retiring to Florida.  So far, they have been on about 30 cruises.  After dinner, for an hour we danced in the Wheelhouse Bar, where Annie and John also danced; however, we saw none of the other “regulars.”  Two couples arrived just as the Soul Wave went on break, but we were surprised that Paul was not there and wondered how Mary was doing.

Port Douglas and Great Barrier Reef

            On Monday, 8 December, we awoke to our alarm at 6:30 AM.  Since Jesse had not awakened earlier, he quickly downloaded our e-mail and uploaded a posting to our blog.  By 8:20, we had finished breakfast and were in the Wheelhouse Bar, awaiting our excursion to depart.  At 8:45, we boarded a ship’s tender (and were lucky to sit on top in the open air instead of in the hot, stuffy interior) for a 20-minute ride to the pier.  There, we then boarded the catamaran for our excursion to the Great Barrier Reef.   The air-conditioned catamaran was very comfortable, and fully equipped with restrooms, covered areas, a sunning deck, and closed circuit TV.  During the one-hour ride to the outer Barrier Reef, we were served morning tea and cookies.  Other snacks and both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages were available for purchase.

              Also, during our trip to the Barrier Reef, a marine naturalist hosted an informative presentation on the reef complex on the closed circuit TV.  One of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Great Barrier Reef is the most unique ecosystem on earth.  It stretches over 1,600 miles along the Queensland Coast, is composed of over 2,900 individual reefs, and forms the largest reef system in the world.  This underwater botanical garden supports the lives of thousands of marine plants and animal species. The basis of the reef is the corals, which can be found in every color, shape and form imaginable. Rainbow-colored fish, giant clams, starfish, sea cucumbers, anemones, sponges, eels, rays and turtles along with countless other creatures call the Great Barrier Reef home.

About noon, we arrived at a pontoon dock on the outer reef, where we were given 3 hours of free time to indulge in a wide variety of aquatic activities. There were many options to choose from.  We chose first to descend a stairway to an underwater observation area.  Through the glass windows, we could see corals and fish, as they swam along outside the structure.  However, it was very hot and stuffy down there, with no space for seating; we stayed only for a very few minutes.  

Pontoon Dock

Semi-Submersible Boat

Next, we boarded a semi-submersible boat for a guided coral viewing, a fantastic way to see the underwater world without getting wet!  We boarded the craft and descended the stairway.  The body of the craft was very narrow and held about 30 passengers.  We entered the seating area and folded down a cushioned board behind us for seating – two passengers per seat.  Most passengers were seated with spouses or friends, though apparently not the two seated in front of us; the woman quickly pointed at a space between them on the bench and told the man sitting next to her, “There’s the line.  Stay on your side of the line.”  The man quickly squeezed as close to his side of the craft as possible and never turned to look at the other side of the vessel again!  The woman also screamed to the guide that he needed to speak up because she couldn’t hear him.  Although Jesse is usually very friendly, this was not a woman he was interested in meeting!  During our 20-minute underwater tour, we saw many varieties of coral and fish; however, it was so hot and stuffy that Sally felt as though she would have passed out if the tour had been much longer.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a hot and cold buffet lunch with fresh tropical fruit for dessert.  Here we joined Connie (the retired airline stewardess from Arizona and Minnesota, whom we had met previously), and Jackie from Alberta, Canada.  When they left for other activities, we were later joined by Jenny and Steve, from London, England, whom we had also met previously.  Although Jenny and Steve are not married, they have been together for 14 years and have been on 9 cruises.

Although several other activities were available, including guided snorkeling tours, certified and introductory scuba diving, Seawalker platform helmet diving, and scenic helicopter flights, we opted to spend the remainder of our “free” time relaxing in the air conditioned catamaran.  After talking with Connie, Sally considered doing something more exciting and renting a lycra body suit (as protection against stingers), but she hadn’t brought a swimsuit or towel.  [As several others whom we spoke with agreed, not enough advance information for this excursion had been provided.]

At the end of our time at the reef, the catamaran returned us all to the pier (while we talked with Connie and Jackie), where we boarded a large boat for our return trip to the ship.  Always in our previous experience, ship tenders have provided transportation between ship and pier; however, this boat was assisting at this particular port, and was faster and much more comfortable than the ship’s survival craft which double as tenders. 

By 5:00 PM we were back onboard – and Jesse immediately went for ice cream, since the excursion lunch had included only fruit for dessert.  (He had felt a little deprived!)

After we returned to our cabin, Sally (tired from not sleeping well the previous night, getting up early, and then being very hot during some of the day) slept until 7:15 PM.  At our very late dinner, we sat next to Sally and Peter, from London, whom we had met previously (but hadn’t heard their names that time), and Lyndon and Graham from Melbourne on the other side.  Since dinner was unusually fast, we were dancing in the Wheelhouse Bar by 8:50.  This time, Paul and Mary were there, and we danced a couple of dances with them.  Apparently, Paul had problems with his back the previous night and had not been able to dance.  Mary is recovering from her minor concussion sustained from a fall a few nights ago.  (Her discolored face shows clear evidence of her bad fall.)  We also danced two times with Kevin and Martha before returning to our cabin soon after 10:00 PM.

At Sea and Darwin

At Sea

On Wednesday, 3 December, Jesse awoke at 6:15 AM and downloaded the e-mail; then returned to bed and awoke again at 9:15 AM.  Very tired from the elephant ride and dancing the previous night, Sally slept until 10:15 and then dressed for our 10:45 appointment with Australian immigration.  Although we stood in a long line, the process went quickly, so that already by 11:15, we were sharing our breakfast table with Paul and Mary.  They had eaten breakfast earlier and only had tea.  Afterwards we returned to our cabin.  For the remainder of the afternoon, we wrote postcards and relaxed, even skipping lunch.

At dinner, we conversed with Robert and Cheryl from Auckland, on their fourth cruise.  A little later, we were joined at the table on the other side by Sue and Sharon from Sydney, but we mostly chatted with Robert and Cheryl.  Because dinner was a little slow, we didn’t join Paul and Mary in the Wheelhouse Bar until 9:00 PM.  After the Soul Wave went on break at 9:30 PM, we went to the Neptune Pool on Deck 14 for the scheduled Ultimate Deck Party; however, due to rain, it had been moved to Club Fusion.  Anyway, we decided to just return to our cabin, where we set our clocks forward one-half hour before retiring for the night.

2nd Day At Sea

On Thursday, 4 December, Jesse awoke early and downloaded the e-mail, then slept until 9:15 AM.  After breakfast, we returned to our cabin where we finished addressing postcards, and then went for a swim.  In the pool, we conversed with a man from Australia who spends five months of every year in the USA, traveling around the country in an RV that he stores in Black Hills area of South Dakota.  Next summer, he plans to spend time in Iowa and Missouri.

Although we were not really hungry (we seldom have been!), we enjoyed a light lunch at 2:30 PM.  Several passengers had seen dolphins and flying fish from their balconies.  Although we looked, we find that neither of us can stare at the ocean longer than about 45 seconds at a time; therefore, we haven’t seen anything but an endless sea of water.

At dinner, we sat first next to a couple from Southampton, England (a seaport close to London), where the Princess ships dock.  Since they were finishing dinner when we arrived, we didn’t get their names.  Then, a couple from Adelaide sat on the other side of us.  It turned out that they are also dancers and had seen us on the dance floor.  Although we thought they looked familiar, we’ve met so many people that the names and faces are blending together.  Their names are Bevin and Beverly, or Bev and Bev, or “B & B” as they are known by friends in Adelaide.

After dinner, we went to the Wheelhouse Bar for dancing.  Paul was there for a little while, but Mary had developed a cold and decided to stay in their cabin.  Paul was only there for a few minutes; then Peggy and Dick, whom we had met previously, joined us and we talked with them for a little while after the Soul Wave stopped playing.  They have children, but no grandkids and are celebrating their 44th anniversary on this cruise.  Since Peggy looks so young and is so energetic, we were amazed that she is in her sixties!

We returned to our cabin about 10:30 PM and did a little preparation for Friday’s excursion before retiring for the night.

Darwin

On Friday, 5 December, we awoke to our alarm clock at 6:30 AM, went to breakfast, and met in the Wheelhouse Bar for our excursion at 8:50 AM.  While waiting for our turn to disembark, we conversed with a woman named Connie.  She is a retired Northwest Airlines flight attendant who lived in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area for many years, but now winters near Sedona, Arizona, and spends summers in her cabin in northern Minnesota.  Although she started the cruise with a friend, her friend’s husband (still in the USA) became very ill; therefore, her friend cut her cruise short in Perth and returned to the USA.  (Her friend later called her to say that her husband had passed away.)

During our 1.5 hour ride, our tour guide, Trish, gave us a brief history of the area while riding through the city of Darwin and south on the Arnhem highway to the vast wetlands near the mouth of the Adelaide River.  Darwin, closer to Indonesia than to any other Australian city, was bombed during World War II by the Japanese.  There were fortifications and an airfield here, with the remains of a runway running parallel to the road we were traveling.  The city was rebuilt, only to be leveled again in a terrible cyclone in the 1970’s.  During the cyclone, Trish hung tightly onto the toilet, the sturdiest part of the house.  Although people had been ordered to evacuate to the south, she and her family did not; they didn’t want to be dependent on strangers. 

Trish refers to herself as a “bush girl” and shared many stories of her life in the bush and in Darwin, including being taught “outback” survival skills by her grandmother.  She has written books on this subject, such as the use of shredded bark of one tree for medical remedies. On one occasion, she flew on a plane to Adelaide, but said she would never fly again because she was terrified to be so far above the ground.  Also, she had worn a mini shirt and a loose blouse, and had nearly frozen to death.  Although when she was young, she had the idea of marrying a man from the south (partly to be sure that he wouldn’t be a relative), she later realized that she could not live in the “cold.”  She spoke of relaxing after work, drinking gin in front of her fan before sitting in a big tub of water in the yard.  Trish, part Aborigine on her mother’s side and Maltese on her father’s side, uses a unique version of English.  Some of her phrases include “flogging with a frozen catfish [or kangaroo tail];” and she described an expensive hotel that charges like a “winded bull” ($1500/week for a suite in Darwin).

When we reached the river, we boarded a riverboat for our hour-long riverboat cruise down the mighty Adelaide for the highlight of our trip – viewing the river's famous jumping crocodiles.  These fascinating cold-blooded reptiles that were believed to be facing extinction 30 years ago, now number more than 80,000 in the waterways of Northern Territory.



Jumping Crocodile Cruise

Jumping Crocodile

The boat’s crew wrapped pieces of raw meat (it looked like slabs of short ribs) with string and attached them to the ends of bamboo poles.  When a crocodile would surface near the riverboat, we watched as boat personnel dangled the meat over the heads of crocodiles, first on one side of the boat and then on the other, to coax the crocodiles to jump into the air as they attempted to snatch the meat from the bamboo poles.  Although some of them became quickly discouraged, others continued their pursuit and were eventually rewarded with a light afternoon snack.   We were told that when one crocodile surfaced, there were at least 7 or 8 others swimming beneath them in the water, unseen by the human eye; however, crocodiles have very keen eyesight and were watching us from beneath the surface.  These “crocs” are very intelligent and know the sound of our boat (where they obtain free food) as opposed to other boats.  They are especially attracted to bright colors as they scan the riverboat’s juicy “people menu.”  (Actually, a few people had met their end recently in this area, including one man who had been drinking too much alcohol and one fisherman “who should have been more careful.”)

Later during the riverboat cruise, we watched the boat’s crew toss small pieces of raw meat into the air and large birds swoop gracefully down from the sky to catch the meat in midair.  It seemed amazing that none of the birds collided in flight.  At one point, a whistling koite, the second largest bird of prey in Australia, was sitting in a tree by the river.

After the riverboat cruise, we stopped at the “Window on the Wetlands” museum and information center, with displays and sound recordings of the area’s wildlife.  On our return trip to the ship, Trish continued with her stories about life in Darwin.  We rode through an area of the most poisonous snakes in Australia.  Trish had been bitten by one many years earlier.  She called for her kids to bring a shovel, and she managed to kill the snake so it could be taken with her to the hospital so that they could identify the snake for certain.  At the hospital, she was told that if this was not the snake that had bitten her, the antidote probably would kill her.  Of course, she had survived!

It was about 2:00 PM when we re-boarded the ship.  After a light lunch and short swim, we returned to our cabin for a little rest – which turned into a two-hour nap for Sally.  When we finally made it to the Savoy Dining room for dinner, it was 7:30.  There, we joined Graham and Barbara from Adelaide.  This is their 22nd cruise, at least one of which was a world cruise.  After dinner, we went to the Wheelhouse Bar for dancing, where we met Paul.  Mary had not come, and Paul explained that she had fallen in the bathroom during the night and hit her head.  Although the ship’s doctor did not find a concussion, Mary has a big bump on her forehead.  Also, Mary is still suffering from her cold.  They left their cabin for lunch, but on their way back to their cabin, Mary had collapsed in the hallway before Paul could catch her.  The ship’s doctor put her on a restricted diet – no diuretics.  After a few dances, we returned to our cabin and set our clock and watches ahead by 30 minutes before retiring for the night.

At Sea and Bali, Indonesia

At Sea

On Saturday, 29 November, Jesse awoke at 5:45 and downloaded the e-mail; then he worked on our photos.  Sally slept till 10:00 – what a vacation!  After breakfast, we went for a swim and conversed for quite a while with Vicki from New South Wales.  She has an aunt in the USA and has traveled extensively through the USA and Canada.  Although she used to dance a lot, now because of a problem with her ankle, she is unable to dance anymore.  Still, she likes to watch the dancers.  Afterwards, we relaxed in our cabin for a few minutes and then headed to the Horizon Court for a light lunch.

Since dining was to be formal tonight, complimentary canapés were delivered to our room at 4:00 (an extra benefit for elite passengers); then we dressed in our formal attire to attend the 5:00 Captain Circle Cocktail Party where we were served complimentary cocktails.  Although we had hoped to dance to the Diamond Princess Orchestra, there were so many Gold, Platinum, and Elite passengers on this cruise that the staff had set up chairs and tables on the dance floor.  No dancing.
 

3rd Formal Night with Paul and Mary

Immediately after the cocktail party we went to dinner, where we shared a table with Dee from Vancouver, Canada, and Roland and Marie from Sydney.  Dee is a retired dental hygienist who has been traveling since October and will not be returning to Vancouver until January.  Her travels will have included three cruises, a three-week stay with friends in Melbourne, and a stay in Hawaii.  Roland is a retired nurse; his wife, Marie, retired from Australia’s medical service.  They seem most disappointed that they had missed two opportunities to cruise to Egypt due to other financial obligations.  Now, no cruise ships go to Egypt.  Because both Roland and Marie spoke very softly, Sally missed a lot of the conversation.

After dinner, we returned to our cabin for a little while before meeting Paul and Mary in the Wheelhouse Bar for dancing.  We danced and conversed until 10:00 PM before retiring to our cabin for the night.
 

2nd Day At Sea

On Sunday, 30 November, Jesse awoke at 4:45 AM and downloaded the e-mail.  We have figured out the large number of Platinum and Elite Aussie passengers onboard the ship with their fancy smart phones and “free” Internet minutes are clogging up the Wi-Fi services.  Anyway, after downloading e-mail, Jesse returned to bed and slept until 9:00.

At 10:00, we went to breakfast in the Horizon Court, then for a swim in the “indoor” pool.  Since the pool was a little crowded, there wasn’t much space for swimming; however, Jesse spent most of the time in the shallow end conversing with a woman who resembled Jamie Lee Curtis about cruising (and doing water aerobics exercises) while Sally swam and then conversed with a man named John at the deep end about health issues and then American politics.  John lives in Sydney and retired from the carpet business after he sold out to a larger company.  About politics, he said he wishes President Obama would take a firmer stand internationally; democratic nations need a strong power (namely the USA) to take the lead (for instance against Putin or ISIS), and the UK and Australia would definitely support them.  Also, John says things are a lot more expensive in Australia than the USA.  He recently purchased a Mercedes in Australia for $100,000; the same automobile would have sold in the USA for $45,000.

Afterwards, Jesse lounged in the cabin while watching BBC news, while Sally did a little hand washing.  Then at 2:30, we went back to the Horizon Court for lunch.  Since Sally had become interested in the “Elephant Safari” excursion at our stop in Bali during her conversation earlier with John, we went to the shore excursion desk and exchanged our tickets for an easier (more boring tour consisting of bus riding and shopping!) for “Elephant Safari” tickets.  We had not even considered the “Elephant Safari” previously because it is classified as a strenuous excursion.  Sally was surprised that any tickets were still available; however, since many of the ship passengers are elderly, they might not enjoy riding elephants.

At 6:30, we went to dinner in the Savoy dining room.  Although we sat next to two women at a nearby table, they were mostly engaged in conversation with Sharon and Tony from Yorkshire, England at the table on the other side of them.  We didn’t get the names of the two women.  Although we had met Sharon previously in a hot tub, Tony had not been with her.  Since we had trouble understanding Sharon’s Yorkshire accent, we’re unsure of some details that she related.
 

Dancing in Wheelhouse Bar

We were served quickly, so went to the Wheelhouse Bar afterwards, where we danced to the Soul Wave from 7:30 PM until they went on break.  Later, we met Paul and Mary in the Wheelhouse Bar.  Afterwards, we chatted a little with the Soul Wave couple, Amber and Rolando.  From Italy, they have been on the ship since October and end their tour in February.  They are also engaged to be married. 

3rd Day At Sea

On Monday, 1 December, Jesse awoke at 5:00 AM and downloaded the e-mail; then slept until 8:00 AM.  We haven’t been setting our alarm clock; we have just been waking up whenever.  After breakfast, we watched The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and then Dawn of the Planet of the Apes on TV, along with BBC news before going to lunch at 1:30 PM.  After lunch, we went to the Club Fusion for a Tango dance lesson.  We learned a new Tango step, but by the time we returned to Club Fusion for the afternoon Tea Dance at 3:30 PM, we were unsure of the exact steps.  Since the Soul Wave played a tango, we had some practice.

After the Tea Dance, we returned to our cabin and relaxed.  During that time, our cabin steward returned our passports, which had been stamped by Indonesian immigration.  Now, Jesse now has only two blank pages in his passport book and Sally has only three; therefore, we plan obtain additional pages when we return to the USA before our next cruise.  These are our second passports since we started traveling outside the USA in 1999.  If our parents were alive today, they would be amazed at the extent of our travels.

At dinner, we sat at a table for two next to Steve and Ann from Adelaide, where they had boarded the ship.  We shared interesting stories about growing up in Australia and the USA.  And of course, then they started telling us how “safe” it is in Australia; that is, “you have more of a chance of dying in an automobile than getting attacked by a shark.”  Then they proceeded to tell us horror stories about the dangers in Australia.  They soon finished their meal and we started conversing with two women, Tracy and Gail, who had boarded the ship at Freemantle.  They were much younger than the average passengers on this ship, and had been told by their travel agent that their discounted ticket was partly because of their younger age.  (Apparently, Princess wanted a few younger passengers on the cruise ship – or maybe they just wanted to fill the ship!)

Later, we danced in the Wheelhouse Bar until the band went on break at 9:30 PM.  When we mentioned to Paul that we couldn’t remember the new tango step that we had learned that afternoon, he demonstrated the step to us.  Paul had also attended the dance lesson, but not the Tea Dance.  Mary told us that she was staying on the ship instead of going to Bali; she doesn’t like the dirt, the beggars, or people pushing to sell trinkets and was choosing to spend her day reading.

Bali, Indonesia

On Tuesday, December 2, we awoke just prior to our alarm at 5:45 AM.  Jesse quickly downloaded our e-mail before we dressed and headed for breakfast, where we shared a table with Dee from Vancouver, whom we had met a couple of days earlier.  Dee told us about a very noisy storm overhead with lots of thunder and lightning that had awakened her during the night; that was news to us because we hadn’t heard a thing!  Then we made it for our 7:15 AM excursion meet up time in the Wheelhouse Bar with little time to spare, and were given spaces on the last bus to the “Elephant Safari” tour.  Our friend Paul and also Dee were on the same tour, but on a different bus, where they happened to sit together.  On the tender, we sat below, where it was already very hot and humid for the 20-minute tender ride to shore, the island of Bali.  About 8:15 AM, we boarded our bus.

Our tour guide, Sudarma talked and Mr. Aki, the bus driver, navigated the narrow roads toward the Taro Elephant Safari Park in central Bali, located 30 minutes north of Ubud.   As we made our way north for an hour and a half, we traveled past coffee, cacao, banana and spice plantations; little villages with thatched roofs; and many terraced hillsides of rice paddies.  Bali has two seasons: wet (September to March) and dry.  The humidity today was 90 percent.  Mostly, Sudarma told us about the religious beliefs of people on Bali.  Although 80 percent of the people in Indonesia are Muslim and Bali is part of Indonesia, the Bali people are Hindu.  However, they are less strict in their religion than are Hindus in India.  They stress flexibility and respect to all people and animals.  He said it is because of their flexibility that the Muslim government of Indonesia trusts them.  They have a lot of ceremonies, and they have temples at various levels: family, clan, village, regional, etc.
 

Elephant Safari Park

We arrived at our destination about 10:00 AM.  Set in over four acres of exotic botanical gardens and surrounded by lush forest, the Elephant Safari Park is home to 27 elephants that were rescued from deforestation in central and southern Sumatra.   An official member of the World Zoo Association, the Park not only meets international standards for animal care but is a sanctuary for the endangered Sumatran elephants.  Once we arrived, we walked through the Park's museum, which contains a full-sized 15,000 year-old mastodon skeleton. Then, since it was starting to rain, we were given plastic ponchos to wear.  (After that, it was hard to determine who was who, since we were all covered in either green or blue plastic ponchos!)  First, we watched an elephant show, where the some of the smaller elephants kicked soccer balls, and twirled hula hoops and dunked basketballs with their trunks.  They also “sprayed” the audience with water, but luckily we were out of their range.  After watching the elephant show, we were escorted to an area where we were allowed to pet and feed a baby elephant.  While we waited our turn for our elephant ride, we had a few photos taken with the elephants.


Elephant Walk

The highlight of our visit was the exciting elephant walk.  The park attendants helped us climb into a teak wood chair atop one of the large elephants; and then the trainer guided the elephant on a 35-minute walk.  The ride was very bumpy and hard on the back (probably more so for larger people like Jesse).  Although we were told that we would quickly get used to the “gentle, swaying gait of the elephant,” that was impossible.  The movements of the trainer (who sat on a cloth on the elephant’s neck) seemed to be in sync with the elephant, but we jolted with every step.  Jesse had always thought female circus performers looked really sexy riding atop the elephants, this didn’t “feel” sexy at all!  Although the ride was very exciting, it was also exhausting.  The conclusion consisted of the elephant wading into the pond, where he/she sprayed us with water.  Luckily, our elephant was nice to us and didn’t get us wet.  This made Sally happy because she had been dreading being sprayed with the filthy water.  (Earlier, we had seen some of the elephants pooping in the pond!)  At any rate, Sally feels that the elephant ride will probably be the high point of our Australian cruise (followed by feeding the Kangaroos in Tanzania)!  It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

After the elephant ride we shared a buffet lunch with Don and Carol, whom we had seen on the dance floor.  They are both retired and this is their third cruise.  After lunch, we repeated the even longer (1 hour and 45 minutes) bus ride back to the pier, where we boarded a ship’s tender back to the ship.  We were back in our cabin by 3:30 PM, where we relaxed (and Sally had a short nap) until dinner.

At dinner, we sat at a table for two.  Since no one was seated next to us this time, we had a quiet dinner together and discussed the events of the day.   Later, we met Paul and Mary in the Wheelhouse Bar and danced for an hour.  Afterwards, we returned to our cabin and completed the immigration forms that we would need for Australian immigration on Wednesday morning.  Since the ship had stopped in Indonesia, Australian immigration required us to go through immigration to re-enter Australia.  There was an additional questionnaire about travels to Africa and possible exposure to Ebola.  Before retiring, we set or clocks forward by one hour because the ship is traveling eastward along the north coast of Australia.  (Now we start losing sleep that we had gained previously.)