Willis Island is the southernmost of the Willis Islets, a group of three sandy cays that stretch for 7.5 miles and provide important nesting areas for birds and turtles.
That’s all well and good, but the question of WHY still remained. Well, Captain D filled in the blanks for us at lunch yesterday. A technical stop at Willis Island, an external territory of Australia and not actually part of Australia is required to be able to sell duty free alcohol and products on board the ship this cruise.
Aaahhhh...it’s a tax thing. Mystery solved.
Captain D said that all the Golden Princess has to do is drop the anchor, lift it up and move on- a technical anchorage. “Does the anchor have to touch the bottom?” I asked. Yes. “Is a tender boat launched?” No.
It’s sorta like the PVSA in the US, but not at all for the same reason.
As promised, our weather improved a little overnight (still, it was largely grey and rainy all day). But the winds were much lighter and the sea swell less pronounced; even without duct tape, the dance of the drawers wasn’t as prevalent. We slept well, still waking too early, but what can we do? I met up with G in the Horizon Court Buffet before 7am, and told him I had received a troublesome text from T-Mobile about a phone trade-in rebate I had submitted . After breakfast, we went up to Skywalkers for the combination of strong WiFi and peace and quiet and phoned T-Mobile Customer Service who put us through to Promotions who straightened things out and all is well again. I mention this only to point out that, regardless of how much we prepare to be away from home (and you know we prepare a lot), things come up to bite us. If we were on for just one or two cruises, we could simply ignore them until our return home, but that, of course, is not the case.
We went to Kay Taylor’s lecture on Yorkey’s Knob and Airlie Beach at 10am. While we do have plans for Yorkey’s Knob, we really don’t for Airlie, so it was good to get some ideas. The three remaining ports on this itinerary, all on the Great Barrier Reef, are anchorages, and Captain D said the tenders for Port Douglas and Yorkey’s Knob are run by the ports. Apparently all three require long (three mile] tenders. Those are the days you don’t want to forget something in the cabin, so we have already packed a backpack for tomorrow.
We followed the lecture by attending the British Pub Lunch, which, on the Golden Princess is held in the Donatello Dining Room (possibily because of its popularity?). It was not held on the first sea day but was held today, and I’ll let you know if we have another during this cruise. Luckily for me, there is a minimal regular menu available also, so I had a roasted vegetable starter and a salad while G had his favorite fish and chips. And then we went up to the Horizon Court Buffet so I could eat. ;-) A delicious three bean salad and oriental vegetable salad was being served today, so I had those and some watermelon and cantaloupe. Headwaiter Gabriel saw me there and stopped to make sure I was finding some good things I could eat. No problem with that!
We finished lunch just as Captain D announced that we were getting close to Willis Island. Unfortunately, it was pouring right then, and the visibility was significantly diminished. Geesh...the weather this cruise has not been cooperative! We went first to Skywalkers to look out but I really wanted to be able to take some photos that didn’t have the reflection caused by the windows, and so we went down to the Promenade Deck. That was a much better -and popular- viewpoint.
The Coral Sea pilot who is on board for this portion of the cruise came on the PA system to tell us a little about the island and then he radioed one of the four people currently stationed in the island who gave us a nice overview of its history and how it is currently used. Those four people are stationed there for six months at a time, and this team just started their assignment. We were told that the meteorological station was wiped out by hurricane Yasmin in 2011 and completely rebuilt. Honestly, it is just a sand bar; I think that any kind of severe weather would take a toll.
Their favorite way to spend their free time is snorkeling as the reef around there is teaming with underwater life. I would love that part! They also have full internet access and lots of movies to watch, so they are not cut off from the world. Boat drops bring necessities and it seems to be a comfortable- though clearly remote- existence
The Golden Princess completed the technical anchorage and then began the 280 mile trek directly west to mainland Australia.
We took advantage of some down time to take naps (not me, of course, but I wanted to). We had a late (for us) evening planned and that was the only hope we had of staying awake for it. G got caught up in a movie and I got lost in a book and we stayed in the cabin until it was time to get ready for the PES Lounge in Skywalkers and dinner. For a starter tonight I had a vegetable caponata that I could have every meal until we disembark the ship. It was just that good. And I followed it with broccoli and that yummy, flaky salmon. I didn’t realize until this evening that one of my favorite desserts, pavlova, is on the menu every night (every. single. night!!). I’m telling you, the struggle is real!
Pianist Bradley McCaw (we had missed his show in the Vista Lounge on Monday evening) was back with a new show in the Princess Theater, so I was happy to get a chance to finally hear him. In fact, we had a preview of his performance at 4pm when there was a rehearsal in the Princess Theater while we were in our cabin. That’s how we knew he would not be performing classical music but more contemporary music. In fact, we knew his first song would be ‘This thing called Love’, then something something then ‘Jailhouse Rock’ then something something something then ‘Sweet Caroline’. Really. That’s how much sound travels up to our cabin two decks above. After his show, we sat in the Explorers Lounge and listened to party band Soul Vacation. They are really good, and will provide a nice alternative when the entertainment starts repeating for us.
Later tonight we’ll be going to the Love Boat Disco Deck Party on the open deck around the Neptune’s Reef pool. Frankly, I’m amazed, first by the fact that the weather has cleared enough for it to be held outside but also that we are going to be able to stay up that late. ;-)
Despite tomorrow’s port, Port Douglas, being the launching point for snorkel and dive trips to the Great Barrier Reef, our plans for the day are uncertain but will not likely include some time underwater. There are a couple of reasons for that. Snorkel trips involve long (90 minute) boat rides each way over potentially rough water, and all tours recommend taking precautions against seasickness. Due to the expense of the excursions (close to $200 USD per person booked independently and $250 USD per person booked through Princess) we didn’t want to take a chance of a long boat ride in the rain or on rough seas. As it turns out, that’s exactly what we would experience. The forecast is for rain until about noon tomorrow, when the weather will finally start to improve. Instead, we will tender into Port Douglas just for a look around and possibly a meal and some high speed WiFi. There is a beach there (4 Mile Beach) that we may check out if the afternoon weather improves enough.
And, before I finish this tonight, here are a few more things about the Golden Princess. In fact, a couple of these I remembered as soon as I published yesterday’s post, and in a fast and free internet world would have immediately amended that post, but in a cruise ship internet world, decided they just had to wait one more day.
We have the new Princess Luxury Beds on board the Golden Princess. These mattresses always seem too soft at first touch, but they don’t cause me to have lower back pain, so I guess they’re supportive enough. While I like the feel of the new sheets, I really hate the top sheet/ duvet/ topper system (my opinion of it hasn’t changed at all since the beds were introduced while we were on the Emerald Princess). I cannot get through the night without the sheet going one way, the duvet another and the topper a third way. I inevitably end up with the duvet against my body, and I know that they are not washed in between cruises. The old system, with the encased duvet, was much more sanitary.
The crew on the Golden Princess is among the friendliest crews we’ve ever seen, and, in fact, is right up there with the Emerald Princess from years ago, and the Pacific Princess. Everyone we meet greets us with a smile. In fact, every cabin steward on our deck from the midship elevators forward already greets us by name. On a ship this size, that’s pretty remarkable.
When the Golden Princess Horizon Court Buffet was renovated, hand washing stations were put in at each entrance to the buffet lines. Not washing stations as on the Royal Princess, tucked away so people either don’t see them or ignore them, but a vanity with two sinks. Crew members are there to encourage handwashing instead of promoting use of that vile hand sanitizer that is so hard on the skin (and that I am allergic to). We love these stations!
Captain D said yesterday that the Golden Princess will be having an extensive refurbishing early next year. The ship is nearly 20 years old and, naturally, some wear is obvious, but I can promise passengers cruising between now and the dry dock that the ship is not a rust bucket even now. It’s beautifully maintained and, while the decor is clearly Princess vanilla style, it still looks good and works well.
Except for possibly the pool heaters. The pools are frigid. There is no other word for them. The hot tubs are just slightly warmer than we’d like the pools to be. All in all, if anything has disappointed, it’s the fact the pools are usable only by the hardy. Unfortunately, due to the weather, some or all of them have been netted off for most of the cruise.
Equally chilly- the public areas. The only nights I haven’t been cold at dinner in the Donatello Dining Room were formal night and the night I wore a long sleeved t-shirt, travel vest and scarf. Our cabin is only warm enough if the thermostat is set to the highest temperature during the day, though we do turn it down to midpoint at night.
We have not seen Love Boat reruns ANYWHERE on TV. If they’re there, they are minimal and well hidden. We haven’t yet hooked up our HDMI cable to watch our own videos on TV, as we will be moving at the end of this cruise, and, honestly, haven’t spent a lot of time with the cabin TV on, but it appears we can watch without fear of the Love Boat coming on and catching us unaware. This...is a wonderful thing. I’ve said in the past that the sexism on that show is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
There are several passengers (especially American and Canadian passengers) who are doing multiple back to back cruises on the Golden Princess, for the same reason that we are on these cruises, the fact that the itineraries are not very repetitive is appealing for people who have o travel some distance to get here.