Day 11: At Sea

Today should have been a lazy, relaxing day, but somehow we managed to stay busy the entire day. The big news was that our weather was perfect, sunny and not hot, but comfortably warm with not a hint of bumpiness. Where was this weather early in the cruise?  We saw Captain D today and he said it would continue, at least through Melbourne next cruise, and that our weather in Sydney tomorrow should be excellent. Well, yay!

We enjoyed breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet and were amazed to see that, when we took our iPhones off Airplane Mode, we had Telstra service from the mainland just 23 miles to our west. We followed right along the Continental Shelf all day, and our service continued all day. This enabled me take care of some business that I thought I’d have to put off until our already overscheduled turnaround day tomorrow. The internet speeds were snail slow but they were fast enough, and that’s all that mattered. Plus I was able to text Mom and friends in the US before it got too late back there. I was so excited to hear that McGuy’s football team made the championship (game to be played this week) and that McGee’s cross country season is done. This is the sort of news that, for years, I’ve been sad to miss while cruising. I’d get updates, of course, but not quite so real time. This T-Mobile plan is the best.

We returned to the Horizon Court Buffet for lunch, because it’s just so darn easy...and we can get a table for two AND see out a window. Plus the food and service is fantastic. If it seems like we’re dining more in the buffet this cruise, we are!  But never for dinner though. We’re changing tables next cruise to a table for two near a window in the Bernini Dining Room on Deck 5. We will miss Nemo and Mark and Gabriel, but they get moved around frequently on this ship, and so won’t likely be together next cruise anyway (no s). 

I have had no issue adhering to my modified vegan/pescatarian eating plan on board. In fact, it is so much easier that it is at home where I’ve been making two separate dinners for the two of us. I have far more variety on board than I can replicate at home, and, because there are so many things to choose from, don’t feel at all deprived. Case in point - today’s lunch in the Horizon Court Buffet. I had three different pre-made salads, one of which had seafood in it, and then fruit, nuts and seeds for dessert. (Photos provided because of our cellular internet signal today). I don’t get the same variety of salad greens that I get at home (no kale or chard), but there is usually spinach and romaine lettuce in the salad bar and they work just as well. 

We went to a lecture by the Great Barrier Reef port pilot, Ian, at 2pm. His topic today was about modern day pirates, and, like his other lectures, it was excellent. Luckily, there is minimal/no pirate activity in this area, but illegal fishing is prevalent along the Great Barrier Reef. 

We met Captains Circle host Alessandra for coffee in the International Cafe at 3pm, and you won’t believe this, but it was the first time we’d been there all cruise. It’s nearly impossible to get a chair there; as on other ships, people camp out at those tables the entire day, and most of the time aren’t there for the food or coffees. We ended up being lucky to get seating in Vines before it was open for the evening. Also unbelievable...this was the first coffee I’ve had all cruise. Naturally it was decaf and made with soy milk, but it’s still not something I’d have every day. I have been drinking a lot of hot water with lemon as an alternative and am finally getting out of the habit of drinking coffee, especially in the morning. 

No decaf coffee (because of the chemicals used to decaffeinate it), no alcohol, no sodas or artificial sweeteners. The struggle is real. ;-)

We went up to Skywalkers for the PES Lounge just to enjoy the views of the mountains of eastern Australia in the distance. For dinner I had a seafood starter with a slice of avocado, and then a large grilled vegetable salad as my entree. Dessert was (what else?) a fruit plate. The fruit on the ship, especially the honeydew, cantaloupe and watermelon, has been out of this world...which is good because I’ve eaten a boat load of it. Dinner was followed by the baked Alaska parade (accompanied by the usual HOT HOT HOT), but then progressed into an Australian favorite, the Chicken Dance (with all diners participating) and then into the Australian standard, Waltzing Matilda. The Aussies stood and swayed and sang at the top of their lungs and we American joined in best we could on the refrain, but we were swept up and linking arms and swaying with our Australian passengers. What fun!  Apparently this is standard practice on cruises out of Australia so we’ll be able to enjoy it several more times (and have vowed to learn all the words to Waltzing Matilda).

The entertainment tonight was the finals of The Voice At Sea, and we surprised ourselves by attending. It was actually quite fun though there was one contestant who was a clear winner.  She sang the Tennessee Waltz in a shockingly un-Australian accent.  How do they do that?  And that was the extent of our evening. There is an International Crew Show at 9:45pm, which we would love to attend, but the alarm is set for 5am tomorrow. After watching the Golden Princess arrive in Sydney Harbour once from home (on the Sydney Harbour Webcam) and then walking down to the waterfront ten days ago when we were staying at the Holiday Inn Old Sydney to watch the ship’s arrival, we will view it tomorrow from a different perspective...on the open decks of the Golden Princess. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. 

Life is good. :-)

Day 10: At Sea

The combination of attending the Tropical Night party on deck last night and moving clocks ahead an hour to Sydney time did the trick; we slept until 7am this morning.  I’ve said before that we are slow learners when it comes to this travel stuff. I met a couple on the tender two days ago who flew out here from California just for this one cruise. Hopefully they recovered from the long flight and jet lag far more quickly than we did. We will likely remain early risers...but not quite 4am early, please. 

Part of the reason we slept so soundly and so long was that this ship was stable, and it was a wonderful thing. We are cruising south just off the east coast of Australia, and this is an entirely different sport than our northbound trip was. It’s nice!

I walked on the Promenade Deck before breakfast to get some steps in, and then met G in the Donatello Dining Room for breakfast. We sat at a table for 8 with, among others, a woman traveling with her 90 year old mother, and I love to see that. I had just cereal, soy milk and a banana for breakfast (G had the featured item of the day, huevos rancheros, which explains why I was so much hungrier at lunch than he was).  At 11am we attended a lecture on prohibition in the Princess Theater, which was interesting though rather dry (haha). Then it was back to the Donatello Dining Room for lunch, because I had seen that there was Mediterranean seafood stew on the menu, plus I was already hungry (G was not and just had two desserts). 

Today was the (what we call) garage sale in the Bernini Dining Room on Deck 5, and, God help me, somehow I got sucked in there. While G browsed through all the stacks of T-shirts (because the 872 he already has are not enough), I joined all the bored men sitting in chairs off to the side. That sale is SO not me. We followed that up with another lecture at 2pm by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park pilot who has been on board this cruise. He was very interesting and talked about the history of navigating the Great Barrier Reef and also discussed the different kinds of ships he pilots these days (cruise ships are the fun ones; he pilots a lot of large freighters also). 

At 3pm we returned to the cabin for the first time in hours, and shortly after that began getting ready for the Captains Circle Party being held at 4:45pm in the Vista Lounge. (It takes us a long time to get ready for formal nights because we take turns. There’s not enough space in this cabin for us to simultaneously get cleaned up and dressed to the nines...or at least the sixes). We were honored to be this cruises Most Traveled Guests (MTG), and the Princess days for the top three Most Traveled (because readers always ask) were approximately 950, 850 and 830, I was very happy to receive a crystal as an award gift.  Many of you know that Princess is doing away with the crystals, and is now giving out wooden boxes, but for ships that still have some inventory of the crystals, MTGs are given a choice between the two. Well, the Golden Princess had just two crystals left:  Caribbean and Asia. I have 12 different crystals already but didn’t have an Asia crystal and so that worked out perfectly. Now...if we just have enough room, weight-wise, to get it on our Jetstar flight to Hawaii. 

After the party, we were shocked to see bartender Iryna, whom we sailed with for two seasons on the Pacific Princess in French Polynesia suddenly appear in front of us.  She had seen our photo in today’s Princess Patter and came to the Captains Circle Party to find us. She is working in Crooners martini bar (no room for those in my life any longer) which is why we hadn’t seen her before today. It was wonderful to briefly get caught up and we were touched that she had sought us out. Dinner was just salmon and broccoli for me, but G said his Beef Wellington was the best beef he’s had all cruise. Production show Born to Dance was new for us, and we loved it, and there was also a magician performing in the Vista Lounge. It’s nice having options!

We are already formulating a plan for turnaround day in Sydney on Wednesday. We’ll have to move our things into our new cabin (boy, we can’t wait to be settled there!), and that always takes longer than expected, and all onboard will be 3:15pm so it’s not like we’ll have a lot of time. Our subsequent turnarounds won’t involve moves, and that will allow us a few more hours to explore. But, really, I’m happy just sailing into and out of Sydney Harbour. Anything beyond that is simply a bonus. 

Day 9: Airlie Beach, Australia

Today was the best weather day we’ve enjoyed since the Friday we arrived in Sydney. We had sun all day with a temperature around 80. Perfect!

Our arrival in Airlie Beach was originally scheduled for 10am, then amended to 9am once we boarded the ship, but the beautiful views started at sunrise. This section of the Great Barrier Reef is known for the Whitsunday Islands, “discovered” by Captain James Cook on Whitsunday, 1760. Several beautiful, tree covered islands dotted our approach to our anchorage at Airlie. We lingered over breakfast on the Terrace Deck, watching sailboats come and go from the Abell Marina, where our tender was going to arrive. 

Luckily, large tenders (actually, ferries) from shore were used as the primary tenders and they were new and plush and smooth and manned by the nicest guys imaginable. We rode over on the upper deck, enjoying the gorgeous weather. Though those tenders were fast, it was still a long tender, as all of them have been on this itinerary. Once on shore, we decided to skip the $5 round trip transfer into the center of Airlie Beach and walked the 20-30 minute distance instead. Always after the daily steps!  There was a nice boardwalk along the waterfront and the views all along the way were spectacular. 

Like many beaches in this part of Australia, the water isn’t really safe to swim in. The main culprit is the deadly box jellyfish but there are plenty of other stinging nasties in the water too. Airlie has constructed a long, winding lagoon that is filled with filtered (and safe) ocean water that varies from zero depth at a beach entrance to a couple of meters deep. One end of it is shaded with high canopies and there is a large children’s playground. The other areas are oriented toward  older kids and adults, and the whole lagoon is really beautiful. 

The Golden Princess waaaayyyy in the distance. 

These are long tenders!

The children’s end of the beautiful Airlie Lagoon



When the beach isn’t safe, they make a new one. 

We first walked past the lagoon to the Airlie market, similar to The Rocks market on weekends in Sydney. Locally produced crafts, jewelry and food is available for sale. Still, I didn’t buy anything. When I packed my jewelry for this cruise, I vowed to not buy a single piece on this trip regardless of how inexpensive or beautiful it is. None!  Nine days in and I’ve managed to abstain.

We had lunch at an outdoor café along the waterfront (salad topped with prawns for me) and then swam in the warm water of the lagoon to cool off (it was a warm day!). Mid afternoon, we walked back along the waterfront to the tender pier and rode the ferry back to the ship. It had been a perfect day. 

I wasn’t particularly hungry at dinner, and had just a smoked salmon starter and some ratatouille for dinner. We finished early and went to the early (6:45pm) performance of New Zealand vocalist Chris Powley in the Princess Theater. I looked at G and said “What is he doing on ships?”.  He was amazing and a wonderful entertainer, combining his fantastic voice with humor.  I hope we get to see him again this season. 

We swung by the Piazza for a short (5 minute) performance of Beatles music by the singers and dancers, and then, for the first time in the evening this cruise, stopped into the Horizon Court Buffet for some fruit since we had skipped dessert after dinner. It was pretty impressive, especially the beautiful side buffet with all sorts of desserts. If I wasn’t married to Mr. Dining Room I think I could enjoy dining there most nights. 

I’m taking the time to prepare this post before we go back up to the Lido Deck for an island night party with line dancing and band Soul Vacation. We move clocks ahead an hour overnight; it’s just possible we might sleep until 7am tomorrow.

A sunny, warm day. Smooth seas tonight. Great entertainment.  A party on the open deck. Now THIS is cruising!

Life is good. :-)

Day 8: Yorkey’s Knob / Cairns, Australia

We were thrilled this morning when we turned on the TV to the ship’s webcam channel and saw sun (sun!) reflecting on the water. Woo hoo!  We quickly met up in the Horizon Court Buffet where we saw mostly sunny skies with just a hint of troublesome clouds on the horizon. After breakfast we went out on the Horizon Terrace (and I can’t wait until next cruise when our cabin is just one deck below that fantastic area) and placed a call to Daintree Aviation Services via Vonage (For 2.2 cents per minute to Australia! Get the app!!) to confirm our 12:40pm flight over the Great Barrier Reef. Everything was a go and we were told we’d be picked up near the Yorkey’s Knob Boat Club where the tenders come in at 11:40am.  

The clouds grew a bit more troublesome as the morning went on, but compared to our recent weather the day looked good. We took a large ferry from shore over to Yorkey’s about 10am but were confused when we walked down the pier to see hundreds of passengers lined up already to go back to the ship. What was going on? 

Well, it didn’t take long for us to find out that there had been a horrible accident on the single road leading from Yorkey’s Knob to the main road to Cairns. A tour bus coming to pick up passengers for excursions struck a car carrying two young adults in their mid-20s. The jaws of life were required to extricate the car’s occupants and we heard, alternately, that there was one fatality or two fatalities.  It sounded dire. But the immediate result was that the excursions for 400 ship passengers were cancelled as the police had that whole intersection closed off. 

It was quite an odd situation…2000 passengers invading this little village that were unable to go anywhere. The tiny grocery store was overrun with passengers buying ice cream and the coffee shop said they had 700 people queuing for a coffee. We phoned Daintree Aviation again and asked if they thought they’d be able to get through to pick us up and they seemed optimistic that an alternate route would soon open. We walked further into Yorkey’s to get away from the horrible congestion around the tender area (large tour buses unable to go anywhere, and all the passengers milling about without so much as a place to sit down). Finally at 11:30am we called Daintree Aviation yet again and told them exactly where we were and what we were wearing and within a few minutes their van arrived and picked us up. 

The driver was able to tell us that, in fact, the passengers in the car were not immediately killed but were in critical condition. It seemed this was the biggest thing to happen in Yorkey’s in ages, and it was predicted that the police would have that area closed off most of the day for the investigation.  Meanwhile, an alternate route had just been opened up. 

Unwilling to think that bad start would be any predictor of the rest of the day (Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts!), we rode the 20 minutes or so to the Cairns airport where, along with a couple from Spain, we received a preliminary informational briefing from our pilot, who looked all of about 18 years old. We were flying in a two-month old 8 passenger aircraft, but there would only be the four of us. We had to strap a life vest in a packet around our waists and wear it the entire flight, and our pilot, Charlie, told us what to do in the event we had to ditch. Happy thoughts!  Happy thoughts!

We walked out on the tarmac where our plane was waiting (right next to a couple of Royal Air Ambulance Corps planes) and I had more than a doubt about this whole adventure when I climbed up into the plane and took a seat. This had been G’s idea, not mine, and, because you know how I am about closed in spaces, I was pretty uncomfortable. But I put on my headphones and hoped for the best. What I got was way better than that. 

As soon as the plane was airborne and all that blue ocean stretched out in front and on each side of us, I instantly relaxed. This felt open, not confining, and that made all the difference. It took us about 10 minutes of flight (with views of the tiny Golden Princess off to the north) before we reached the closest edges of the Great Barrier Reef and I was in heaven. I was reminded of Douglas Pearson’s 100 shades of blue, but add to that 100 shades of green and a few shades of tans and brown. The water was so clear that, from about 1300 feet altitude, we could actually see the larger sea life below us. 

We flew over one significant island (Green Island, named for its verdant vegetation), and several that ranged from sand bars to tiny spits of sand   One in particular was the site for weddings where the participants were helicoptered in, and sometimes the exchange of vows was followed up by a scuba dive. We could clearly see the edges of sections of coral, with sandy bottom ‘roads’ running between them. Honestly, it was the most beautiful natural thing I’d ever seen…with the possible exception of the view of Bora Bora, Taha’a, Huahine and Raiatea from Mount Tapioi in French Polynesia. 

So beautiful, in fact, that I sat in the Horizon Court Buffet and used precious ship WiFi to upload five pics. 

This is that tiny sand bar used for weddings. 

Too soon it was over and we were turning back toward Cairns. Once at the airport, we decided to be driven directly back to Yorkey’s Knob instead of spending some time in Cairns, as we had originally intended. We didn’t know what was going on at the accident site and the last tender from shore was at 4:15pm. By the time we reached the site, one lane of traffic was open, though the bus and car involved in the wreck were still there. It was a very sobering sight after what we had just experienced. 

We tendered back to the ship (these are long tenders) and grabbed a light lunch in the Horizon Court Buffet. I had to take care of some online business while I still had mobile internet but G went to a hot tub. We returned to the cabin at the same time, about 4:30pm and quickly got ready for the PES Lounge and dinner. It was Italian night, and we could smell the garlic before we even reached the Donatello Dining Room. Headwaiter Gabriel was making penne arrabbiata and he made some especially for me that fit my needs perfectly. He served it over a healthy serving of broccoli and I could live on that forever. We finished up with limoncello sorbet and it was the best of the many great meals we’ve had on the Golden Princess. 

The Princess Theater entertainment tonight was Aussie Emma Kirk singing Adele’s songs in a show called the Adele Experience. What a voice she has!  It was a great show…and I’m actually kind of glad we’ll hear it again in our cabin at 9:30pm during the second performance. ;-)

It was a wonderful day, getting a bird’s eye view of the planet’s largest living organism, followed by a wonderful dinner and a wonderful show. This one will be hard to top, but that won’t stop us from trying. These are early days, and there is a lot of cruising still ahead of us this season.  

Life is good. :-)

Day 7: Port Douglas, Australia

We have certainly been weather-challenged on this cruise, and, sadly, today was no different. Just as in Brisbane, Captain D said, in his welcome back onboard announcement, that the weather turned out to be worse than forecasted. We still had a fun day, and were thankful that the temperature was probably in the low 80sF, so that while we were drenched to the skin, we were never cold. 

Despite staying up for the Love Boat Disco Deck party last night, we had another early start to the day. We kept breakfast simple in the buffet, just oatmeal and fruit for me, and were happy to take our phones off Airplane Mode to be able to text friends at home while they were still awake. The T-Mobile free international coverage is working great for texting and simple internet activities but is very slow downloading (or uploading) photos, which is why I’ve only uploaded a few and then only when I had WiFi at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. 

Tender operations started shortly after 7am but it was closer to 8am when we finally boarded a ship’s tender. The tenders from shore that Captain D had mentioned were actually excursion boats taking passengers right out to the Great Barrier Reef for snorkeling and diving. It was raining lightly and very windy on the long ride to the Port Douglas Marina and the tender ride was pretty bouncy (but nothing compared to the return). Once on shore, we took advantage of a break in the rain to walk down Port Douglas’ main street, Morcossan Street, across the town to 4 Mile Beach. While we have seen photos and videos of the beach that looked gorgeous, today the Coral Sea was rough and the waves were big. Still, a few intrepid swimmers were out in the water, in a narrow area demarked by lifeguard flags. We walked most of the length of the beach and back, taking photos of the Golden Princess at anchor far off in the distance. 

4 Mile Beach on a dreary, windy day

4 Mile Beach report

Really blustery!

The beaches we’ve seen in Australia have a bottle of vinegar stored in a cubby in case of stinging attacks. Yikes!

A constantly peeling tree called a paperback tree. 

Or, as a landscaping maintenance guy we talked with called it, “job security”. ;-)

We walked back across town and stopped in at a large Cole’s Supermarket to purchase a few things we needed, like toothpaste and makeup remover cloths, and, while we were there, I saw 200 grams (almost 1/2 pound) bags of pine nuts for the unbelievable price of about $2 USD. We would pay close to $20 per pound for them at home, and I simply had to buy a bag to add to salads on the ship. We continued back to the marina where the Golden Princess tenders were coming in to look at some of the many tour options available on the pier. We decided to book a 90 minute boat tour up an estuary that runs right into the sea at Port Douglas that also provided an overview of the history of the area.  It was going to leave in about an hour, so we went to a restaurant right on the pier and sat at tables under umbrellas next to the water. 

G ordered a beer and I got a green smoothie and we were enjoying watching the marina traffic when suddenly the skies opened and we couldn’t move for cover quickly enough. We were soaked, and I started to rethink our boat tour but, luckily, the rain was short lived and by the time our tour began, we had sort of dried out. We were lucky; it didn’t rain at all while we were on the boat but both the tours before and after ours were caught in rain. 

We learned that Port Douglas was founded about the time as the North Queensland Gold Rush in the 1870s.  The port was used to transport prospectors, supplies and gold by water, but when a railroad was built that allowed access to the gold fields directly from nearby Cairns, the town fell out of favor and nearly disappeared altogether. It wasn’t until the area was discovered as a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef in the 1930s that growth related to tourism began again.  Still, it remained rather remote, and electricity came to Port Douglas only in 1957. Now it is home to 3500 people and hosts many times that in tourists every year. 

Our captain pointed out all the mangrove forests that line the banks.  Half of the world’s mangrove species exist in Port Douglas and it was interesting to hear about their role in filtering runoff silt that comes from the nearby mountains before it gets into the Coral Sea, effectively protecting the Great Barrier Reef.  While we didn’t see saltwater crocodiles on our boat ride (fine by me!) we did spot several mudskippers, the fish that can walk upright on land. The fish takes enough salt water into their gills to be able to thrust their bodies up onto land and then get up and walk using their pectoral fins. Crazy!

Just as our tour finished up, it started to rain yet again, so we went directly to stand in the line to go back to the Golden Princess by tender. Luckily, the tender line was covered by a long canopy, so we weren’t standing in the rain, but it did seem to move slowly and it took quite while to board a tender. We soon found out why there was a delay. The tender ride was nothing short of horrible, bouncy and long with several people getting seasick.  The tender boat tipped every direction and I was stuck at the very back and held onto a hatch handle just to stay in my seat. We were thrilled to finally see the Golden Princess appear in the distance but the worst was yet to come. The driver could not get the tender boat against the ship’s pontoon and required several attempts before he was successful. We were lucky to simply get back to the ship, and Captain D said later it had been a very challenging day. 

I couldn’t wait to get into a hot shower, and then dressed for dinner and went up to Skywalkers before the PES Lounge even opened just to use my iPhone on the local cellular network (I had forgotten my phone on the ship when we went ashore). G joined me for just a short time before we needed to get to dinner. While G had eaten a slice of pizza when we reboarded the ship, I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and was starving. Luckily, there were several starters I could eat tonight (ceviche, minestrone soup and fruit kabobs) and I ordered them all.  My entree was a special vegetarian curry and it was amazing. The executive chef is from India and I have had some good curries and korma on the Golden Princess. 

Tonight was the Oktoberfest party, and we left the Donatello Dining Room and walked right into the Golden Princess orchestra playing polka music in the Piazza. We stayed for a while, but needed to get to the Princess Theater to get a seat for production show Let Us Entertain You. Yep, we’re back on a normal Princess ship again.  The Princess Theater was just about filled a full 30 minutes before the show started. I don’t think we’ve ever seen that show before, but there were definitely parts of it that have been used in other shows, too, because they were very familiar. 

And that was it for us this evening. I wish we could sleep past 5am so we’d stand a chance of staying up past 9pm at night, but after our late night last night, 9pm was our limit. Of course, I still needed to prepare this blog post, and it’s after 10pm by the time I get one written and published. 

Captain D said tomorrow’s weather has only a 60% chance of rain (as compared to today’s 90-something %), but that’s still too much for us. We have arranged a flight from Yorkey’s Knob over the Great Barrier Reef, and I’m afraid the weather might affect our plans. We even booked it for around noon, so the sun would be at its highest point to magnify the colors of the reef. I don’t know what concerns me more:  not having good visibility or having the flight cancelled altogether. My fingers are really crossed tonight for better weather and some sun tomorrow.