Saturday 18th April '09

Today’s the day we board our cruise ship! We got up early to finish packing and grab breakfast.

Breakfast
Full Buffet Breakfast at Rydges - again


There was no chef cooking eggs to order this morning so I tried the scrambled eggs but didn’t like them. I moved onto some yoghurt, muesli and watermelon. You’ll notice there’s a lot less muesli in my bowl this morning compared to yesterday. I figured out how to use the muesli dispenser and didn’t end up with a whole bowl today.



After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and set out on foot, dragging our luggage with us. We’d gone past the passenger terminal yesterday during our walk to Two Rocks, so we knew where we were going. It was over half an hour’s walk before we reached the terminal and checked our luggage in.


ALL ABOARD!

The check-in procedure for the cruise was relatively smooth and quick. Pretty soon, we had boarded the ship and were crazy in excitement to finally begin our eighteen day voyage to Hawaii.

my cabin on level 6


As soon as I had my luggage brought to my cabin, I met up with Noel and Fleurette and we went to the Horizon Court buffet on level 14 to get lunch. The Horizon Court offers buffet style dining all day, with the exception of midnight to 4am where hot foods are ordered from a ‘bistro’ menu.

Lunch - Buffet at Horizon Court
crumbed scallops, smoked salmon, pasta salad,
seafood salad, penne pasta, caponata, salad


I spent most of the afternoon just lounging around on the pool deck (level 12), sipping on Campari & Soda, in anticipation of pulling up the anchor and setting sail down the harbour, under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and out into the open sea.


We ran into Noel’s brother, Grant, and his girlfriend Julia, when we were at the front of the ship. As soon as we’d cleared the bridge, the sun began to sink rapidly and we all headed back to our cabins to change for dinner. As soon as I got to my cabin, the rocking motion of the ship hit me fast and I succumbed to seasickness. Never before have I been seasick until now. It was not a pleasant feeling. Never fear, I was not alone. Fleurette and Julia were not feeling well either. Fleurette and I spent a few hours beside the pool, camped on the deck chairs with Noel bringing us hot tea and keeping us company. Poor guy – he was disillusioned into believing that males are the stronger sex because he absolutely fine, yet was running around at our beck and call *giggle*

About an hour later, I was able to move around well enough to manage a light dinner from the buffet.

Dinner - Buffet at Horizon Court
soup, salad, fish & cous cous


After eating as much as I could, I went to my cabin with some travel sickness tablets to have some rest. After a few hours, I decided against sleeping through the night and eventually managed to get to the ‘Singles Ice-Breaker’ meet and greet at 9:30pm. It was me and two other elderly ladies. Great! So much for meeting the man of my dreams for a three week passionate fling.

I went to watch the ‘Welcome Aboard Showtime & Introduction’ show in the theatre and then popped into the nightclub – Jammers – for a drink before calling it an early night and heading to bed.


It was eerily quiet throughout the ship as I stumbled back to my cabin. Perhaps it’s because the majority of the passengers are elderly and have early bedtimes. Or perhaps they’ve been overcome with seasickness too.

What a way to start our holiday *grumble*

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