Taking the slow boat to Oz

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Today is the day Chris and Roisin board the slow boat to Australia. The first port of call will be Honolulu on Oahu. The journey will take 4 days and is approximately 2108 nautical miles (don't ask the difference, we just know it's a bloody long way!!)

During Chris & Rosin's time in San Fran, they had found the cruise terminal but it was at Pier 35 and not pier 27 as mentioned in the travel docs. Roisin had the nouse to consult Trip Advisor. Someone had posted that the reason for the switch was that there were 4 cruise ships in port today, the Norwegian Jewel, the Celebrity Millennium, one other and the most important one of all – the Sapphire Princess. The evidence was that there seemed to be more tour coaches in the city than usual as Chris and Roisin sat on the terrace of Café Cento where they had their cream cheese bagel and coffee for the very last time.

Check in went without a hitch. A very nice Thai or Vietnamese rep from Princess Line checked us in. Her parting words were, 'Have a great time' which Chris misheard as, ‘Love you long time!" Now where had he heard that before??!

1700 passengers were checking in at San Francisco and another 1700 had apparently checked in at Vancouver. That totalled 3400. Now as the passenger capacity of the Sapphire Princess was 2635 something didn't add up!! As long as Chris and Roisin had their cabin and a table for dinner, who cares??

On first impressions of their fellow passengers, Roisin estimated that the average age must be in the region of 75 with an assorted array of zimmers and mobility scooters!! "Blimey”, thought Chris. “It will be like going on holiday with the queue from my post office!!”

It's a fact that the longer the cruise, the older the clientele. The theory is that persons of pre retirement age can't normally afford the time off. However, this was by far a distraction for Chris and Roisin. They were sure they would meet some fascinating and interesting people during their voyage. After all the old saying is that in every old person there is a young person….wondering what the f**k happened!!!

Chris and Roisin made their (own) way to cabin C105, a deluxe ocean view stateroom. (Posh for cabin with a balcony!!) The balcony was facing forward 2 decks directly under the bridge. It was larger than expected and not as windy. One of the reservations was the prohibiting of opening the balcony door whilst at sea. This was not the case and the only proviso was that the balcony door be kept closed. One could still sit out on the balcony whilst at sea if one so desired.

Each cabin has the name of the occupants to the side of the door. To the right of cabin C105 were the Whites (Paul and Gloria). To the right of C105 were Mr Romeo and Mrs Regina Joly!! Chris wondered if they lived up to their name! However, whilst on the balcony he heard German voices coming from their cabin so he very much doubted it!!!

It wasn't long before Chris and Roisin were introduced to Teody, their cabin steward. “Call me Teddy”, he said. “If anything I can do blah, blah”. (you know the drill!!)

Prior to setting sail at 5pm, Chris and Roisin walked the length of the ship. Their walking up and down the streets of San Francisco held them in good stead as it was a bloody long way. The total length of the ship is 290 metres. 3 circuits of the promenade deck is equivalent to 1 mile!!

Jolante, an Afrikaan South African, took them around the thermal spa suite. A package for 30 days allowing unlimited use of the sauna and steam rooms as well as relaxation tanks and other such healthy extras cost $299. This may sound a lot but for 30 days it works out at less than $10 per day, that's less than $5 each. Do you ever get made an offer you can't refuse??

A quick glance of the daily on-board paper, The Princess Patter invited you to the welcome party where you can dance to the sound of the Vintage People!! It's got to be a piss take, right?? Another notice invited you to the Skywalker Lounge from 10 til late to party with DJ JT. There was a caveat stating that you may be requested to show proof of age!! At this stage Chris and Roisin were having doubts that they were on the right Cruise!!

As the vessel steered out of 'the bay', the Sapphire Princess passed Alcatraz for one last time and then under the Golden Gate Bridge before sailing into the Pacific Ocean bound for Hawaii.

They were on the late sitting for dinner. This was an unusually painless process and seemed to be well organised in showing passengers to their allocated table. Chris and Roisin had been placed on a table of 6. For the whole of service, the other 4 didn't show up. Not surprised with the size of the ship. It took Chris and Roisin 15 minutes to walk the length of the Sapphire Princess. Anyone using a zimmer could probably treble that time. They'd need to start off about 3 in the afternoon just to be able to make it for pudding!!

Florin, from Romania and his assistant Nadia from Ukraine were Chris and Roisin's catering staff. 2 menus were presented. An al-a-carte that changed every day and an alternative menu that remained the same and consisted of old favourites like pasta, salmon etc…

After dinner, Chris and Roisin teamed up with an American couple from Phoenix, Arizona and a couple from Vancouver for a trivia quiz. One of the questions was' “which king of England was reputed to have 23 children?” It's funny how, with the mention of England, Chris and Roisin were expected to know this obscure fact.

“Before my time!!”, Chris said as the answer was revealed as Henry I (now go on, be honest, how many of you knew that answer??!)

Before retiring to bed, Chris looked out on the balcony. It was pitch black.

“It's amazing how they can steer these things and see where they're going in the dark!”, he quipped. Although he couldn't see it, he could feel the vastness of the Pacific Ocean not knowing quite what lie ahead.

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Photos

Sunset over the Pacific.
The end to a perfect start

Comments

[Dave]

Keep this up mate. Am really enjoying it. I've not read any of it out to the Mrs though as she'll want to go next year.