Didn't stop in Brisbane - on to way to Sydney

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Geo: -27.4676, 153.028

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3

We got up early for sunrise and I went to straight deck 7. There was a straight back chair, so I could sit comfortably and do my morning devotions and cross stitch. Glenn met me and we walked up to level 8 for O'Sheehan's Bar and Grill where I normally "park" myself.

We attended the 10am lecture on Sydney by Peter. Then we ate lunch at the Versailes, and got there to be one of the first to be seated. We sat at the very back. We needed to be at the 1pm presentation that they had for us "going on the back to back" cruise. It was just a formative meeting about how our luggage will be handled especially since we are changing staterooms. We started talking to some folks from Atlanta. I told them I was rooting for their team for the Super Bowl. Their daughter works for the team in upper management and will be at the game. They also had a "sour" attitude about the ship and wanted more money back.

We stayed and watched a made for TV movie about the aborigines and how the new settlers (mostly thieves) were taken to Australia and the conflict. Part 2 will be shown on Saturday. Very good. Hard to understand the Australian English. Since Glenn and I were up on the "top shelf", I laid down. They also served us popcorn. Nice touch.

We did get all dressed up - Glenn wore his suits and I wore my gold outfit that I have worn in weddings and funerals. We had reservations at the La Cocina. I ordered soup and chicken parmagain. Very good. They also got my crème bluee for dessert. We went to the 7:30pm show featuring Colleen Austen. She was the gal that sang the first time we were on the ship. She also sat next to me in our tender ride to Cairns.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4

Surprisingly, we slept in til after 7:00am. We had asked Norma if she would meet us on Deck 8, so I could use her internet and check to see if we got any messages from our friends from Sydney. Glenn got up and went on down to deck 8 O'Sheehan's Bar and Grill to connect with Norma. We found out that Norma woke up extra early and had been down there since 5 or so. Oh my.

Also we got a note from Barb Love on Friday saying she would like to meet us. She is a retired missionary from Philippines and was glad to hear that someone was planning a worship service. Glenn left a note on her door to say that we could meet for breakfast. So, we had 2 people to meet. Barb never showed up. In the mean time, I was able to check my email and got the answer that we would be on our own in Sydney. We had a good long visit with Norma and she also introduced us to Barb and David Lou from Canada.

Once we returned to our room, we called up Barb Love from Philippines and asked to meet her. We met at the back of Deck 12. Her brother, Bob, was in the hall way and he joined us for breakfast. We showed her the O'Sheehan's Bar and Grill. Wow, we spent a good 2hours visiting - learning about her experience. Found out that she went to Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. She and her husband even applied to Central America Mission. They were denied acceptance - back in the late 50's. Interesting story - but we saw God's faithfulness in the direction. She and her husband were in the medical field. She had wanted to go to the hospital in Siguatepeque, Honduras.

Glenn and I had reservations to eat lunch with Julian and Leslie. He's the lawyer. Well, I was "peopled" out, so Glenn suggested I rest and he would go down to the Versailles to have lunch with them. I took a nap. I also entered all the names of people we had met on the ship into bottom of my Microsoft Word document. So glad I could rest more. Today was very sunny and lots of people out on the deck getting too much sun.

Glenn also went to the Part 2 movie about the settlement of Australia. I decided not to go.

We ate supper by the window in Versailles and then to the "Boys from Motown Australia" production in the Stardust.

We are getting ready to land into Sydney, so Glenn had to turn in our passport and documentation. Since we are only in Sydney for 12 hours, we get to get off "in transit" and explore the city. We have been thinking about getting an excursion, but since everything we want to see/do is within walking distance, we'll do Sydney on our own.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5

I wanted to see the sunrise, so I got up and sat on the east side of the restaurant on Deck 8. As I was looking out the sun was popping out over the horizon and huge container ship was crossing through the pathway. Beautiful sight. I did some cross stitching, until Glenn came and joined me.

We went to the Stardust Theatre and kinda organized the chairs. This time, the Cruise Director, Richard, put a short announcement in the Free Style Daily "8:30 - 9:15am Guest lead - Interdenominational Worship Service". Thankful for the short announcement. We had 30 folks show up, compared to 6 and 10 the previous Sunday services. Glenn had schedule several folks to share. Bob the Gideon shared and handed out some iphone app cards advertizing the app where you can read different languages in the Bible, David and Barb lead a few of the hymns we all knew, such as Great is Thy Faithfulness, How Great thou art, Barb, the missionary from Philippines shared some of her missionary experiences, and Glenn asked if anyone else would like to share. Another Barb shared how she had cancer 30 years ago, and found out that she pregnant and was asked to have an abortion. Miraculously, she decided against the abortion and delivered a healthy baby. People were crying. She also is going on the 2nd cruise. Leslie at the end, ask for prayer for her son.

Since we had advertized about a 9:30am worship service, we thought it best to go up to the board room and see if anyone would show up. I was there for about 10 minutes then returned to our state room. Glenn waited a little bit longer. Jacqueline showed up. Then Glenn and Jacqueline came out to the deck on 12 and we talked for over an 1.5 hours. I had my flip foto album and I showed Jacqueline some photos of Guatemala. She pointed blanked asked us what we did and I. Also, I had my 2017 calendar and shared some stories and pointed out my kids and g'kids to her.

I was getting really tired by this time and came up to the state room to take a quick nap before the 2:15 Talent show put on my the crew of NCL. I got a quick 1-2 hour nap. Glenn was elsewhere. I met Glenn down at our normal spot. Deck 7 - on the right hand side of the Stardust Theatre.

Since I didn't eat lunch, we were first in line at the Versailles for dinner. I had a delicious pot pie and Glenn had lab. We sat at the back of the restaurant overlooking the engine, where you could definately see that the NCL Star was running on one engine. There was more water, thrust coming out of the left side than the right side.

We went to the grand finale of the 7:30pm show. Great performance. The crew and some of the staff came up on the stage. The captain was not there, as he needed to be bed, since we would be arriving into Sydney Harbor quite early in the morning. He would be getting the "pilot" at around 3:00, and slowly docking between 3 and 4am into Sydney. We did come back to our stateroom and packed up our stuff. We put everything in the suitcases. Let them in our stateroom on Monday, and the steward moved them to our new room 10571

In summary of our 3 week cruise - it was more than I expected. It was disappointing to miss so many ports. When we left Hong Kong, we knew that the ship was "limping along" and we would be missing a port in Vietnam and also Thailand, but then when the captain announced that the first problem was fixed and a second problem with the azipod had accorded and we would be missing 3 more ports (Komodo, Airlie Island and Brisbane) I was disappointed. What was even more frustrating, the people's reaction on the boat to the news. One particular guy, the baseball cap guy, got in the atrium and started leading some protests. He along with others would chant "We want our money back...We want our money back". It did get to the point it was very disrespectful as we wanted to enjoy the cruise and he was creating disturbance and discord. We found out later, that this "baseball cap guy" was escorted off the ship in Cairns. When he opened his stateroom door that morning, the NCL Security got him and his wife, and escorted him off the ship. NCL folks packed up their belongings. Even the other couples he was traveling with didn't know anything about it.

All and all, it was a good trip. Because of the many changes in the schedule and the fact this one guy lead the protest, the bottom line, we were given $1,000 on our stateroom account and 100% future cruise (minus port charges) for a future cruise to be used in the next 5 years. Because of this we had a surplus on our account. So, I can't complain. Blessed to have gotten to see this part of the world.

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