As far as sea days go, this one was one of the best. It helped that our weather (keep in mind that we are now in the Tasman Sea) was perfect. After our last two experiences in this area (in 2004 and 2006), I would never have believed the (relatively) very calm seas we are enjoying this year. In fact, Captain D, in his noon navigational update from the bridge, said he wishes he could have this weather every day for the remainder of his sailing career. So do we (because we work hard st this!).
Sydney Opera House napkin fold on the last night.
We slept well last night, without needing to secure the cabin at all. G was up and out early and let me sleep until about 7am when he re-entered the cabin. I haven’t yet figured out how to sleep through that ‘key card in the door lock’ click sound, unless I am wearing earplugs, but I haven’t needed to in this cabin. That was fine though; even after publishing my blog post last night I had gotten over seven hours of sleep, which was a good thing, because we have an especially important early wake up tomorrow in Sydney (more on that later).
I joined G in the Horizon Court Buffet (our usual meeting place is a table above our cabin) and we were soon joined by Leonie and Michael, whom we met at the Most Traveled Guest luncheon and had talked with half that afternoon. Apparently we hadn’t exhausted the list of conversation topics because we sat there after we ate breakfast and talked for another two hours.
It turned out to be a rather social day.
At 11am I was meeting company performance manager (aka cast manager and dancer) Rachel for coffee. I don’t think that I’ve yet mentioned Rachel on this blog, so I’ll remedy that right now. The first production show we saw on board was British Invasion, and the female dancers all wear wigs in that one, so no one in particular stood out as recognizable from past cruises. And then, during whatever the next production show was, we spotted a dancer who looked familiar from two of our Pacific Princess seasons but they all move so quickly it was hard to tell for certain. In the third production show the dancers were ‘introduced’ by name toward the end of the performance and when we heard Rachel’s name we realized it was her. Then the very next day we were on a tender with her and there were big hugs and she immediately snapped a selfie with us and sent it to the rest of the cast members who had been with us on the Pacific Princess.
It’s fun to see people we know on board! Rachel was with us during the infamous shipwreck and that was certainly a bonding experience. We met for coffee in the International Cafe and talked and talked and promised to do it again soon and it was wonderful to get caught up.
We kind of did the same thing last evening with bartender Iryna of Ukraine (also from two seasons on the Pacific Princess), hearing about the many changes in her life after we last saw her in French Polynesia. When we had finished chatting, Iryna said she needed to “go pretend hard work”. We had first heard her jokingly say this three years ago, and enjoyed it so much that it is now a phrase we often use with each other at home (said in our best Ukrainian accents). When she said it last night, we both burst out laughing and had to tell her why we did. It’s fun having her onboard too, and we often route ourselves past her lounge (it’s the Martini Bar) just to wave.
By then it was noon and all I had done all day was sit and eat and talk. I left G a note in our cabin and went out on the Promenade Deck to listen to an audiobook while I walked. It was a perfect day for it. The sea was a bit cellulitic (with small dimples and bumps) but there was no swell at all, and, as Captain D said, it was the best weather of the entire cruise. Better late than never, though I really can’t complain about this cruise’s weather too much except for on Mystery Island, Vanuatu, and we’ll get a repeat of that in just three weeks.
G caught up with me and we went to the Donatello Dining Room for lunch (salad Nicoise, but I gave him my hard boiled egg) and had another long meal conversation with another Australian couple. We are getting significantly more educated about Australian places, and when people tell us where they live (usually relative to Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane), we can say, “Oh, near Newcastle?” or “West of Woolengong?” and feel quite chuffed (aka proud in American English) about it.
That reminds me to add a couple of stories to the end of this post, so we’ll see if I can remember them long enough to do that.
At 2pm in the Piazza was the Egg Drop Challenge, and if you’ve never seen or participated in this, it is good fun. Raw eggs are encased in various contraptions and configurations (constructed from items found on the ship) and dropped from Deck 7 overlooking the Piazza down to Deck 5, where a large piece of plastic is taped down to protect that gorgeous stone mosaic floor. It’s always interesting to see what our fellow passengers come up with, but their plans almost certainly include copious amounts of Princess toilet paper and Princess tissues (though I can’t much see how the latter help at all), balloons and plastic garbage can liners or shopping bags. Oh, and today a few passengers used small rocks from the planters in the Piazza to ensure a particular end landed on the floor first.
Last time we watched this, most attempts were unsuccessful but today nearly all eggs survived intact. The audience really gets into this and their reactions are as much fun as the Egg Drop part of the competition. After that, it was 2:30pm and I finally returned to the cabin to decompress a little (and start this post, which is why I’m so chatty today).
We enjoyed our final dinner with our wait team from this cruise, Rodrigo and Ronaldo. They were both prizes. Rodrigo wants us to come visit him in Isla Mujeres and said we have to stay with him and his parents, but to make sure he is there when we do, because he will need to translate. ;-) Honestly, we are so lucky with waiters! Maitre d’ Carlos Justina rotates his wait staff every cruise through the three dining rooms, so next cruise we’ll have waiters who were in the Donatello Dining Room this cruise. On one hand I want to keep them all for the entire time we’re on board, but it’s getting awfully fun because we know more and more waiters each cruise.
Sydney Opera House napkin fold on the last night.
For dinner I had fruit, a salad, and then a seafood starter and a baked sweet potato. We had lunch with someone yesterday who also has very specific dietary requirements and she mentioned that it’s funny when she is in the Horizon Court Buffet and her headwaiter from dinner sees her and scrutinizes her plate to see what she is eating. I have noticed the same thing; it’s like I have a whole team of people keeping me on track. The galley mistakenly gave Rodrigo a scoop of ice cream for me one night at dinner instead of the sorbet I requested and poor Rodrigo almost became unhinged, telling the cook he could have killed me. Well, not quite, but Rodrigo is dramatic that way. Like I said, I have a team of people watching everything I eat. That kind of support is invaluable.
Once again, dinner was followed by the usual Baked Alaska parade, but also the (only in Australia) Chicken Dance (I took a great photo of G and Rodrigo arm in arm twirling around) and, of course, Waltzing Matilda, sung with great gusto and followed by two rounds of “Aussie Aussie Aussie Oy Oy Oy”. We are making progress with Waltzing Matilda and now know the first two verses as well as the chorus. Gosh, things are fun down here.
G and Rodrigo doing the Chicken Dance.
G is out watching the finals of Voice of the Ocean but I am not feeling it tonight. A good book is just more appealing. Part of it, I think, is because the ship really only feels crowded on two days each cruise- the first day and the last day. More people are inside the ship- shopping, buying photographs, playing Final Jackpot Bingo, gambling- and almost no one is on the open decks. The quiet calm of even an inside cabin is very appealing after that.
As for the stories I promised you...
We have inadvertently been keeping our fellow overwhelmingly Australian passengers entertained since we first arrived in Sydney. It started before we even boarded the Golden Princess with the whole ‘Tap On, Tap Off’ with the Opal cards for the Sydney Transportation system (we were clueless about that), but our opportunities to embarrass ourselves continue nearly every day. First there was the WeetBix debacle. I saw packages of WeetBix (I think that’s how it’s spelled) in the Horizon Court Buffet at breakfast and brought one to our table to check it out. We opened it, and it looked like two pieces of flatbread so we were each taking a bite out of one when everyone around us started laughing. Apparently WeetBix is not flatbread and is not meant to be eaten like that, but is instead a cereal like our Shredded Wheat, and is meant to be broken up in a bowl and covered with milk. And now we know.
Then, one evening during this cruise, we had just left the Princess Theater after watching the impressionist perform and the first part of his show was largely imitating Australian politicians which the audience found incredibly funny but which we didn’t understand at all. No matter; he moved on to do George W. Bush and Trump (perfectly, too, and totally harious) and then did impressions of American singers, so we did really like the show overall.
Getting on a crowded elevator afterwards to return to our cabin, I must have said something innocuous, like asking which floors people needed pressed (which is all it takes for everyone to know I’m not from around here) and a man said, “I bet that show didn’t mean a lot to you”, and we assured him that we had actually enjoyed it very much. And then the doors opened and as he was getting off the elevator he said, “Well, some of it cut rather close to the bone,” and then he was gone and the doors closed. After a second’s pause, G said, “But we have absolutely no idea what that means,” and the rest of the passengers burst out laughing.
And don’t get me started on holding out a handful of coins and asking a store clerk, “Is this enough to pay for it?”, which makes everyone else in line snicker while the clerk patiently picks out the right coins. Only in Australia can you do something like that and not get ripped off.
I like to think that we are not idiots but instead are simply adding a smile to people’s days, small payback for all the wonderful fun and hospitality we have been shown while we’re here.
Cruise Director Fernando mentioned at the close of last night’s show that tomorrow in Australia, the results of a general election about Marriage Equality are going to be announced (I hope I have that right) and that Carnival Corporation (which Princess is part of) has publicly announced that they support Marriage Equality. During our arrival in Sydney tomorrow morning (at 5:40am), a rainbow flag is going to be displayed from the front of the ship and small rainbow flags handed out to passengers who gather by the Tradewinds Bar on the open deck so that the Golden Princess will proudly support the cause as it sails through Sydney Harbour and arrives at the Overseas Passenger Terminal. Fernando implied that there might even be some media coverage and we are very excited and proud to show our support. The alarm is set for 5am. (Ugh.)
And finally, I’ve said many times in the past that, while we are cruising, we don’t generally dwell on the whole of our adventures; we simply take one day at a time and then the next day and then the one after that. But every so often it does hit us, this amazing opportunity we are enjoying, and tonight at dinner was one of those times. We were formulating a plan for turnaround day tomorrow when I suddenly realized that this is not a Fort Lauderdale runaround (though God knows we enjoy those too). This is Sydney! Sydney, Australia! And we’re discussing where to go and what to buy and how much internet time we’ll need like it’s the most ordinary thing in the world.
We are so grateful.
Life is good. :-)
