Most of you know we’re snobs about certain things and food is one of them. It was lovely to have lots of food available on the ship and to be able to make up your own plate for any meal you want. It’s just too bad that cruise food (at least on our cruise) is not that great. Now I know a few of you have cruised before and probably love the food, but to us, after our last 8 weeks in Australia & Italy eating AMAZING food (not to mention the last 5 years eating European-style food and portions), we found the American food here on the ship to be a real struggle. Let’s just say we were ever grateful for the salad bar. And since we’re trying to lose our Aussie pounds (which we’ve ... read more

This is not about the actual cheese they serve on board as it’s pretty crap. This blog is about the pure cheesiness of cruising. First of all, I must share that Shane and I have come to a realization that cruising is not travelling. Everything is far too easy here. Everything is done for you and you cattle queue with hundreds of other people for it all and there is no chance of getting lost or not knowing what to do—it’s all pre-arranged and sorted. We’re not saying cruising is a bad thing at all, we’ve actually been having a great time…it’s just different to anything we’ve experienced before! Back to the cheese. I won’t talk about the entertainment as Shane will cover that in a separate blog (but it is mostly cheesy too). I will ... read more

Our feelings on having our own children are no secret to any of you, that however does not stop from appreciated some of the beautiful children our dear friends have had. We had a beautiful Saturday afternoon hanging out with our friends and little buddy ETHAN, the newest addition to the Dutt household. On the way back to the cars, Kimmy and the girls broke off to visit the baby stores with Ethan. When the emerged Kimmy told me that we had bought a gift for Ethan, a little blue stuffed toy that squeaks. (why are baby toys and dog toys so similar?) Later that night I was told the toys name was “FREAK”, naturally I questioned the appropriateness of the name “Freak” for a baby toy. Then I learned the whole truth of the purchase. ... read more

We got back from the Whitsundays and we succeeding duping the traffic controller and did a pick-up in the drop-off departures zone. Living on the edge we are! We drove south last night to our weekend destination: the Southern Beaches. I’m awake early on Saturday morning (as per usual) and sitting in the lounge chair in the penthouse in Gerringong we’ve rented that has terrific views over the town and the beach. It’s a good transition from the views we had in the Whitsundays before going back to the city. ‘Cause where we’re staying in Sydney is so rough you know. You have to actually walk 10 minutes before you can see the water. Sheesh. Civilized Saturday evening game… (Shane taking over now) Saturday itself consisted of some well deserved wandering through town. The highlight of ... read more

From the title of this blog I imagine you are all expecting this to be about our Aussie hosts and us getting lost on new adventures in the land down under. NOT QUITE! Don’t mistake this for a rant but we have had some unbelievable experiences in taxis here, we thought that they were worth a mention. FIRST RIDE, NEWLY ARRIVED IN THE COUNTRY Sydney airport, friendly taxi stand man says, “we have been waiting for you, here is your taxi.” He was joking of course because that was his job, but it still made us appreciate friendly service. We tell the driver our destination without issue and off we go. He makes some feeble attempts at humour along the way, but we look past it. We are nearing the destination (we think), and he says, ... read more