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Published: March 7th 2014
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Cruise Map of New Zealand
our itinerary of the cruise Today we embark on the first cruise day of our vacation – aboard the Sun Princess. By our count, this is actually the 9
thcruise we have taken. By comparison to the other ships we have sailed on, the Sun Princess is somewhat smaller than some of the larger ships we’ve been on lately. We have gotten an e-mail from the cruise line and the Cruise Director for this cruise will be the same person as on our British Cruise, and we’ve said that he’s one of the best we’d had in the past. Anyway, we are excited for this day to have arrived.
Sun Princess – 1950 passenger capacity
Navigator of the Seas – 3114 – Rome (2010)
Crown Princess – 3080 – Baltic Cruise (2013)
Ruby Princess – 3080 – Caribbean Cruise (2012)
Grand Princess – 2600 – British Isles Cruise (2011)
Island Princess – 1970 – Alaska Cruise (2004) and Panama Canal Cruise (2012)
Regent Sun – 818 – St Lawrence Seaway (1994)
Pacific Princess – 670 – Hawaiian Islands Cruise (2009)
By comparison to the A380-800 (484 passengers) there is only 4 times
as many passengers on this ship than on our airplane.
If you are interested in tracking the location of our cruise ship, this link should do the trick. Attached is a diagram of the itinerary.
http://www.seascanner.com/schiffsposition.php?schiff=sun+princess We both got a very good night’s sleep last night (about 10 to 11 hours) and we feel pretty much adjusted to all the time changes already. The real test will be this evening to see how soon we wear out and how well we sleep tonight. But we think we are in pretty good shape already (the trip to London last year took several days before we fully adjusted).
We went out this morning to a local coffee shop (called Starbucks) that’s just around the corner. There are actually lots of places, but we didn’t get too adventurous quite yet. This is a Friday in Lent, so we are supposed to avoid meat today. Actually, Janet checked the local rules and in Australia you are just supposed to make some kind of sacrifice – not necessarily meat. David is willing to avoid green vegetables (broccoli and Brussels sprouts), but
Sydney Harbor Bridge
seen from the ship leaving port Janet said that was not good enough. He offered to forego dessert tonight, but “the judge” said that would have to mean any kind of sweets all day long, so instead the regular Friday meat rules will have to do.
We wandered around a little further and found the local WestPac Bank. They have an arrangement with Bank of America such that they do not charge a “foreign bank” fee. But we were able to get some more Australian dollars in addition to the cash we brought with us. All the souvenir stores will be happy to see us now, all across Australia.
We got the checkout time for our room changed to Noon today and we caught a cab to the ship terminal. We actually arrived 30 minutes before the start time for check-in, but there were already a lot of people already through the process, or at least working on it. We turned over our baggage to the pier-side porter and went off to the paperwork. Being Platinum Passenger status, we get preferred check-in and did not have to wait in much of a line. We were on-board and in our room
Sydney Opera House
seen from the ship leaving port by 1:30.
We went up to the Horizon Buffet Court and got some lunch. There were mostly meat dishes, but we had delicious sea scallops, plenty of fresh fruits, cheeses, and vegetables. Then we got to the dessert table, and David was glad to have sacrificed meat instead of the pastries. After lunch, David took a couple of scenery photos and then we went back to cabin. We had a little time to rest and then they help the Life Boat Drill. We reported to our Muster Station in the Vista Lounge and heard the usual explanation of how to wear our life vest and what to do if/when we heard the alarm. We certainly hope not to have to wear it again!
All but one bag had been delivered by the time we got back to the cabin. We unpacked and then the ship started sailing. David went back up to the top deck to get pictures of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House from the ship’s vantage point – pretty impressive.
Back again in the cabin our last bag had not yet been delivered. But soon the phone rang and Security called to tell us that our suitcase had been confiscated because the x-ray taking on shore showed a knife in our suitcase. David went down and opened the bag for them to inspect. It turned out to be the wine corkscrew which we had brought to be able to open some wine in the cabin (we had picked up 2 bottles while walking around Sydney yesterday). Anyway, the bag was then delivered to our cabin (including the corkscrew) and we are all unpacked now.
We have signed up for the Traditional Dinning at 5:45. We will be eating dinners in the Marquis Dining Room. This cruise we got assigned to a table for 10, although only 6 showed up for this first evening. There is a couple of ladies (Joanna from Australia & Corra from Netherlands) and a fairly elderly couple (Val & Dallas) from Australia. We were the only ones who have cruised before (at least in the last 20 years). So we shared a little experience and advice with our tablemates.
For dinner, Janet had mushroom soup, fresh melon balls, fettuccini alfredo, and hazelnut ice cream. David had a lobster & salmon pâté, Pina Colada cold soup, salmon steak, and apple straddle. Everything was good and was a good kickoff to our cruise meals. On our Baltic Cruise last fall we learned about a wine package where you could buy wine at a discount, but that is not offered on smaller ships. So we will deal with it one bottle at a time when we want one.
After dinner, Janet went to the Vista Lounge to watch a movie, but unfortunately they had technical problems and had to replace it with another movie which she had already seen. So she went back to the cabin and watched a movie on the TV. David went to the Princess Theater instead and saw the sail away show (mostly comedy with some singing & dancing). We met back in the cabin and settled down for the evening.
Tonight we lose an hour on the clock as the ship sails East, but it will be a “sea day” do there isn’t anything really urgent to get start to do. That about wraps it up for today. We will have more to say tomorrow.
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