WE CROSS THE EQUATOR

At 2.30pm this afternoon we will celebrate ‘Crossing the Line’. I believe King Neptune will come on board and sanction passage to continue our journey. We pass into the Northern Hemisphere and are no longer POLLYWOGS.

The Princess Patter newssheet invites us all to the ceremony by the pool on Deck 12, and promises each passenger on the ship will be issued with a personalised ‘Crossing of the Equator’ Cerificate. This is ‘proof positive’ we are told that King Neptune has sanctioned safe passage and will allow us to continue our journey.

Amazing how simple this will be for us when I remember the trials and tribulations of the old sailing ships like the ‘Canton’ my great grandparents came in, in 1848. Ships were becalmed for days waiting for a breeze to take them further. The air was stifling hot and it was hard to breathe. For days!

“A painted ship upon a painted ocean.” (The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner)

While we motor along in our air-conditioned cabins and public spaces. Bruce even likes to sit out on the balcony and read in the warm air.  Nights are hot hanging out from under our doonas (there is no top sheet to throw over us instead).

Today the temperature is expected to reach 34C degrees with a low of 26C. Tomorrow for Singapore we can expect it to be sunny with a few clouds. High of 35C and a low of 25C.

Singapore is only 1degree north of the Equator, so this is real Equatorial weather.

Bruce is still caught up in the anxiety of buying a wheel chair in Singapore so he can get me off the ship and to the shuttle bus to go into town from the Container Wharf where we berth in Singapore and lots of ports. This heavy four wheel battery scooter we brought with us is a big mistake as –at over 50kg - it’s too heavy to get into any taxi or shuttle bus. Here’s hoping!

Today the Photo Shop is offering Digital Kiosk Prints at only 15c each – as long as you download 75 or more 4x6 prints.  And the Drink of the Day in any bar, club or lounge is Pimms Cup containing pimms and sprite at only A$8.00.

The Lotus Spa (the beauty salon) is offering a Special today of a 75 minute full body massage with Hot Stones bathed in essential oils for only $164. I’ve felt the hot stone massage once in a demonstration and it really was lovely, warm and relaxing. But I don’t think so. Not today thanks.

AT SEA Tues. May 28, 2013

Another day of mild sea. White horses are rare today and the ship is steady. Not that I’m complaining. I’m a really bad sailor, and as soon as we start to  pitch or yaw, I take to bed for a few hours until we stop the uncomfortable swaying about.

We have maintained a Westerly course according to the Navigator. We seem to have been passing close to land on both sides today, and they have been islands I didn’t know existed. I guess they are part of Indonesia, and we headed into the Java Sea and turned to the North West.

Tonight we put our clocks back another hour, which I find much more comfortable than when we head East and lose an hour’s sleep every second night. It is about 9pm here, and already 11pm in Sydney. Bruce’s body-clock is keeping Sydney time so he is in bed asleep. He was reading till his eyes got just too heavy, so he gave in and went to bed. In the morning he will wake up early (not even Lucy to take out) and get up, go and have breakfast, and come back here telling me loudly ‘It’s 8 o’clock. Time to rise and shine.” I open one eye and drift to the surface slowly.

By the time I get up, shower and dress it is probably 9 o’clock before we head upstairs to the Horizon buffet on Level 14. I have breakfast and Bruce is ready for morning tea, and thinking about going to a morning ‘Scholarship at Sea’ Lecture. He has been going to a series by an Economy lecturer – a professor – on things like poverty in The Third World. He has been enjoying them.

I thought I would talk  a bit about the dining rooms. There are two large dining restaurants on Level Five and Level Six, called  ‘Rigoletto’ and ‘Traviata’. Each has seating for 480 people, and there are two sittings in each every night. It is amazing that the kitchens can cater for so many people with meals that arrive at the table  hot and pretty fancy. Our Evening meal is early. At 5.30 each night. In another setting it might be late afternoon tea time.  The Late sitting is 7.45, when they do it all over again.  I am impressed that they can present nearly 2000 hot and appetizing meals on time if needed.

These sittings are never full as there are several other places you can eat. There’s always the Horizon Buffet up on Level 14 which is much less formal than the dining room. Dress code not so strictly ‘Smart Casual’. There is also a smaller Steak House and a Pizzeria. If you want you can have catered breakfast and lunch in the Dining Room. You can even order breakfast and have it delivered to your cabin. We’ve never gone to breakfast but occasionally have lunch in the dining room as it’s very civilized – that is, not so crowded, or noisy, and the lunch menu is very pleasantly served by the waiters without your having to queue and hassle for table space.

The dinner menu is varied and –as I said – can be ‘fancy’.  There’s a choice of three ‘Appetisers’, then ‘Soup and Salad’. Three soups and a special salad. Main Course has a choice of several pastas, two fish dishes, chicken. Sometimes lamb.  And lastly beef or pork.  Tonight Bruce had ‘Turf and Surf’ (“rare’ please) and I had Australian Spring Lamb. We are spoilt for choice – though I find servings too big.

The desert menu follows: tonight there was ‘Chocolate Obsession’ and I had the much less exotic Apple Crumble with Crème Anglaise!

And to think I don’t have to think up what to cook tonight for another 90 or so days.

Alas – it will come around again, but in the meantime not having to do so is very pleasant.

AT SEA, Sat May 25,2013

            Not quite so calm today. Lots of ‘white horses’ in view from the balcony. Not that I’m out there. Just looking through the glass doors which are sprinkled with fine rain drops, and the sky beyond is heavy with rain clouds. You can see rain squalls in the distance on the horizon. I have vague memories from Geography teaching that suggest the horizon is 14/15 miles away.  Bruce says also that we are on the eleventh deck - well above sea level - and that makes a difference too.

            We are maintaining a West North Westerly Course according to the Navigator, writing in the Princess Patter Newssheet for today. He says we are passing North of the Gulf of Carpentaria through the Arafura Sea, which separates us from Indonesia.

            We went to see the doctor yesterday.  No – not sick. Bruce has been worrying about being able to go ashore.  The electric scooter we brought with us is too heavy to be lifted into a bus or taxi, so he’s afraid I am ship-bound unless we think of something else. We thought it was an improvement on my TravelScoot as it would fit in the cabin door.   BUT the corridor is narrow, and when I did manoeuvre in through the cabin door, there it stuck. No moving in or out for us or it as it filled all the entrance space.

            The cabin steward organized for us to park it out in the lift lobby in a spare corner. Last night a supervisor came to see us and arranged for the steward to take it and the charger down to a crew area on level 4, charge it overnight, and bring it back up when he comes up to work at 7.30 in the morning. This works well.

            So the TravelScoot would really have been a better thing to bring as it’s much lighter, and can be folded to fit under a coach or in a car boot. The things you realize when it’s too late.

            So – that doctor’s visit. The doctor - a very pleasant young man who introduced himself as “Paul” - was helpful.  Bruce’s idea was that we may be able to borrow a wheelchair from the ship and take that ashore as it would be more portable. The doctor could authorize this, Bruce had been told.  But it turns out the doctor could only organize the hire of a wheelchair for use on the ship. Never on shore. And it would cost $20 a day. There are almost 100 days left. You do the arithmetic. And it wouldn’t help. We don’t need it on the ship. I have a walking frame and an electric scooter for long distances around the ship. No need to be pushed.

            The Doctor’s next suggestion was that he organize the help of the lady in charge of housekeeping to buy a wheelchair in Singapore for us. Cheaper in the long run.

I’m not that happy to have my 83 year old husband pushing me around the world, but maybe it would be OK for short distances to the coach or taxi etc. The said husband feels happier about all this. So far we’ve heard no more. We are still four days out from Singapore.  So we wait.

Just a bit about the cabin. It’s called a “stateroom” in the brochures. The bed fills the bulk of it. It’s two single beds put together to make a kingsize, and is very comfortable. We have four comfortable pillows and a doona, which I find very hot. We can turn down the temperature in the cabin for the night and my little travel clock tells me that is down to 20 degrees. We cope by hanging out various bits of body, and sleep pretty well.

On my side of the bed there’s a small bedside table, and on the other side  is the desk between the bed and the balcony door. I think the desk where I have my computer is called “the dressing table” and has a hair dryer built in next to the large mirror. Of course all the electric points are American, but I have my conversion plugs with me. There’s a phone on the ‘desk’ and some ship’s ‘literature’. It has three smallish drawers on each side, and a hard square stool under the centre for sitting.

In this space between the bed and the balcony there’s also one bucket- chair (comfortable) where we sort of take turns to read, or one sits in a chair on the balcony, or on the bed. The ‘built-in’ in the other corner holds the small fridge, with the TV and some glasses on top of it.  The rain has cleared for the moment and Bruce has taken his pre-lunch beer onto the balcony, where the air is quite warm.

Back over near the cabin door, there’s a built-in wardrobe with three doors. Two with hanging space, our life jackets, and shoes in the bottom. The third one has the small safe, two shelves and two large basket drawers. We divide the storage space between us, and leave non-essentials in the suitcases under the bed. We manage unexpectedly well.

The bathroom/toilet opposite the wardrobe is small but adequate. The toilet is at a funny angle, and is the American style vacuum flush. On the wall just above the toilet are a couple of rails with hand towels hanging, and I’m nervous what would happen if I accidentally knocked one into the toilet as I flush. Whooosh! And a serious blockage.

The ship makes its own water from the ocean. It is clean and fresh from the taps in the basin. There’s plenty of hot water in the tiny shower with its pull across curtain. All very satisfactory.

So that’s more about life on board ship.

Now it’s off to the buffet on Level 14 for lunch to be in time for the 2pm movie. Today it is ‘Les Miserables’ with Hugh Jackman.  Yesterday it was ‘Anna Karenina’.

It’s a hard life!

AT SEA - Thursday May 23, 2013

            
           This is the fourth day since we set out so there must be 100 left! So far so good. The sea is calm. Only the occasional white cap. Bruce’s comment is “like a mill pond”. I don’t know that he has lots of experience of mill ponds, but that’s a favourite saying when things are not rough. There’s quite a strong wind on deck. From the comfort of breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet on Deck 14 I can watch the girls out there with their long hair billowing and twisting around their faces. They are the intrepid ones.

            We are weaving our way through the islands of The Great Barrier Reef, and expect to pass Cairns and Cooktown tomorrow afternoon. Yesterday we had a day in Brisbane. Friends from the Sunshine Coast came down to meet us and  drove us to Manly on the North Shore for lunch and a very satisfying catch-up on life in both directions. It was very cold for Brisbane. About 16 degrees max, and the wind a further chill factor. It was trying to rain on and off all day. So much, we said, for “Beautiful one day, perfect the next!”

            Bruce went to hear Ian McLaren, a comedian, in the Vista Lounge last night and reported he was very good, and tonight after dinner we will go to The Princess Theatre to hear Donna Campbell  give us “The Dolly Parton Experience” with songs and stories of Dolly’s life.

            Every day the Princess Patter News Sheet gives us the Doings of the Day. There are early morning exercises, yoga and brain teasers, Enrichment Lectures in the Theatre, Seminars by the Lotus Spa and Salon on things like reducing back pain, Acupuncture, and Arthritis. All these are hopeful of attracting people to take further treatments at the Salon for which fees apply. The Cruise Director’s Staff run fun things like Trivia, Carpet Bowls, ‘Hole in One’ Putting Competitions, and today there’s a Ballroom Blitz of Waltz lessons.  There is music of various kinds, and people reading in comfortable chairs, all around the ship a lot of the time. Open Air Movies can be seen all day up on Deck 12 on the big screen, or in the theatre after lunch. Speaking of lunch, you can get food (and drink) at any hour in different parts of the ship – both early and late.

            Tonight is a “formal night” and everyone is expected to ‘dress up’ for dinner. The staff photographers are busy taking formal photos they hope you will buy later. At 7pm there’s a function encompassing the three floors around the Atrium where staff build a “Champagne Waterfall” and glasses of ‘champagne’ (some sort of ‘bubbly’) are handed around. The Captain makes a welcoming speech. Even Bruce reluctantly brushes up and looks pretty good.

            As they say : “It’s a hard life, and someone has to do it”.

            That’s a lot about a day’s Cruising for you. 

ALL ABOARD AND WE'RE AWAY

           

            The morning of departure finally dawns. Last minute things to pack. More anxiety in case there is something essential forgotten. Bags out by the lift. Cathy arrives to take over minding Lucy and the apartment, and I introduce her to our two closest neighbours who have both promised support in case she needs anything.

The amount of anxiety increases exponentially as the clock ticks down to leaving time. The shuttle bus arrives and downstairs we all troop, Bruce and a neighbour help the driver to pack our stuff, including my four wheel electric scooter (nudging 50kg!) into the back, and we are off – leaving Lucy on her lead looking forlorn with Cathy. Or perhaps that is just how I am feeling.

We get away at noon, pick up another couple with their luggage and that causes quite a crush in the bus, and we wind our way to the new Cruise Terminal at White Bay. It is such a long way to weave around and back under the Anzac Bridge that we talk about feeling sorry for visitors to Sydney arriving at this God forsaken place so far from the city. So unlike the old International Terminal at Circular Quay.

In spite of interminable seeming queues to check in, we eventually arrive at our cabin by 2pm. This is quick when we later hear stories of interstate travellers leaving days before, staying in Melbourne or Adelaide and waiting at the airport for transport that takes forever to arrive, and boarding at 4pm just before sailing time – tired and hungry.

Meanwhile those of us who are onboard go up to the smorgasbord on level 14 for a late lunch and a relaxing ‘cuppa’, and breathe a sigh of relief that we are actually here on board. Back downstairs we wait for luggage to arrive. Problems – where to stack all that stuff I was so happy to bring. The cabin seems very small as we crawl around the large bed to put bundles of clothes (for 104 days, mind you) into narrow drawers, and on shelves in the limited wardrobe space.

Announcements on the speakers all over the ship.  “Collect your lifejackets in the cabin, check your muster station on the back door of your cabin, and proceed to muster stations for safety drill”. Id cards are checked off, demos given, and we hear instructions that we all hope will never be needed to be put into practice. We remember the ship which ran aground and turned over off the coast in Italy.

Sailing time arrives. We sit on our miniscule balcony as the majestic ‘Sea Princess’ makes her way down the inside harbour, past the construction site happening on Barangaroo, and then the Wharf where the Writers’ Festival has started today; under the harbour bridge with the deep throated claxon hooting farewell, past the Opera House and the grey ships tied up at the Naval wharves of  Garden Island, and out to the Heads.

In no time it is dinner time.  Not dinner time as you might have it at home, but at 5.30 as we had opted for the early sitting. Not much past a normal afternoon tea time. The late sitting is 7.45 and the second Show Time not until 9.45, which makes a long evening for us oldies who are used to turning in when our TV programme finishes around ten.

Conversation at dinner on our table of six, is subdued. We all admit to being very tired from the stress of leaving home and getting ourselves here onto the ship, and finding our way about.  The six of us are Aussies – 3 couples from different States -, and all going “all the way round”.

As a concession to age and a frazzled state of near exhaustion we have no hesitation about crawling into bed as soon as we find all the bits and pieces necessary for comfort . Anything else will have to wait until tomorrow.