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Published: October 22nd 2015
From whence we have sailed
I have always found the wake of a ship a rather hypnotic and emotive seascape photo. I will bore you with more I am sure during the course of the cruise!Our journey north from Brisbane is 3 to 400 Ks off shore from the Queensland coast through the coral sea. While we would love to boast of colourful coral reefs and atolls with swaying palms, and harmonic songs drifting across the ocean, we were too far out to sea for these Queensland spectacles.
So, what do you do on a cruise ship for 2 days while traveling to the first port in Papua New Guinea, Alotau.
I guess the first thing you are thinking is over eating followed by marathon taste testing of all things liquid. There is much more to do and enjoy than that each day. In the evening, our cabin steward placed on our bed a list of activities for the following day, and we keenly marked off various things we wanted to do for the day - some together, others individual activities around our personal preferences.
Some activities are for children, some for teens, some for families, and some for anyone not previously categorised. Day one totalled 77 activities, and that was normal for days at sea. Fortunately the daily program front cover carries the slogan "DO IT ALL or Nothing at all". Besides
The Sometimes Waterfall
There are water features on deck 5 in the Atrium. This is one where depending on the roll (very gentle ), sometimes the water accumulates at the top and then laughs with delight when released down to the bottom of the falls. the listed activities, Marg and I also went walkabout around the various decks to find facilities we would use during the cruise, things not found on the list like laundries, coffee machines, quiet spots, viewing platforms etc. Our cabin was on deck 8, a little behind mid ships. By the time we navigated the ship from Deck 13 down to Deck 5, stem to stern, via stairs etc etc, we felt justified to enjoy just a light lunch from the Plantation Restaurant, where we had earlier eaten maritime diet breakfasts. We soon discovered that a mix of fresh fruit, bacon, eggs, fried tomatoes, 10 varieties of roast potato (Not all at once) and a tub of yoghurt met our strict breakfast dietary requirements.
One activity that was a pleasant surprise was an Art Auction. Paintings, both originals and prints from famous artists (from an American perspective) were displayed in the walkways on deck 7. Anyone could register for the auction, and you had no obligation to buy. Each registered attendee (Rob) was given an auction number and three little sticky tabs to place on the three paintings we thought were the best on display. These were all brought to
Different arts
This gentleman sketches different scenes each day in his cruise art book. Some will also be water colours. the auction, and as I suspected, my eye for quality art exceeded my bank manager's expectations for budget constraint. I really did pick them! One limited edition print I selected was valued at over $14,000 AUD. Another original was double that. Still, this was such an interesting afternoon, we revisited the auctions each afternoon at sea. Chad would tell us about the artist, their life journey as well as their artistic appeal world wide. One artist who died 3 years ago, earned $30,000,000.00 USD for his last commissioned work. The whole $30 mil was given to charity. Oddly enough, we found a mounted jigsaw puzzle from the same artist on the wall of the meeting room at Regal Waters where we live, and we were able to tell others about this remarkable artist, his style and messages within the artwork.
Talking of art, one passenger was a gifted pencil artist who was drawing different scenes each day of the cruise. Some he finished in water colours, others just crafted sketches. We met him after his wife suggested that he might like to make his scratching noises somewhere other than in their cabin. The Atrium with a coffee fitted the
Food at the Waterfront 1
Marg's choice for dinner. bill well!
The daytime activities included motor racing for families. Just two cars in a knockout competition. Yellow always won as Blue didn't respond to any steering instructions unless the driver walked behind the car. This resulted in some creative fowl play much to the amusement or in one case, a major hissy fit, from the drivers.
Late in the evening we returned to our cabin, but were intercepted by an apologetic cabin steward. He was embarrassed because someone had moved into our cabin and refused to leave. He thought we might be able to persuade the intruder to leave quietly. Well, he just sat on our bed, rolled his beady eyes, and ignored all our pleas. Security could have been called at that point, but we just patted his head, and he moved aside without further ado.
The obstructed view became a real point of interest on day 2. The ship's engineers came and serviced the engine within the tender, taking off rocker covers and adjusting cams and injectors. By the end of the day, all was put back together ready for use a couple of days later. Marg was discrete with the camera as often
Food at the Waterfront 2
Rob's desert. This became a challenge for I have a reputation for making a sensational sticky date, ginger and walnut pudding. This was very good, but I think I might just outscore the chef on this. the southern end of the northbound engineer reaching over the engine could be considered distasteful. We were more than happy with our sea view, and found that we didn't get any glare on our window when the sun was low in the sky.
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Sheila
non-member comment
Good to hear that you are enjoying a different way of travel! We are still in Ireland with a couple of weeks on this side of the world to go before we're home!