We were awake early and saw raindrops on the ship’s webcam as it made its way through Port Phillip Bay to reach the cruise pier on the south side of Melbourne...so we rolled over and fell back asleep. We had nothing major planned for the day, just to get to two places that seem to elude us on every visit: Fitzroy Gardens and the relocated cottage (from England) of Captain James Cook’s parents.
We lingered over breakfast in the World Fresh Marketplace, enjoying using international roaming to finally access the Internet. It’s a far, far cry from LTE data speeds at home, but beggars (and that’s exactly what we are at this point) can’t be choosers.
The weather was supposed to clear up this afternoon but never did. Smoke and mist...it’s a bit of a mystery to me how both can exist simultaneously, but they sure did today in Melbourne. Our eyes were burning and I was coughing just sitting on the ship, and at some point we decided we weren’t going to do any sightseeing today, but would still go off in search of WiFi. A little while later we talked ourselves out of trying to find WiFi. Cellular data was doing enough for us to check on things at home and pay bills. It wasn’t hard, then, to talk ourselves out of walking to the little market at the end of the pier for gum. They sell gum on the ship, too. Somewhere. I think.
So it turned into a very slothful day for us, not that we needed a rest, but grey days like these have always zapped my energy. At home we call them “Toledo days”, because my childhood hometown, being on the shores of Lake Erie, seemed to have its fair share of them. Where we live now, we welcome them, one at a time and on rare occasion.
With time- and iPhone battery life- on my hands, I tried uploading a single blog post from my Offline folder in my BlogTouch Pro app using cellular data. It took about 15 minutes, but it worked. I’ve been writing posts every night, and freely adding photos, too, including menus and Princess Patters, thinking I wouldn’t publish until we returned home, so being able to upload today was a pleasant surprise. I’ll continue to do the best I can.
For lunch, we grabbed noodle bowls from Chopsticks Noodle Bar and took them into the World Fresh Marketplace to eat. And just as we sat down, (former) waiter Samsuri from Indonesia walked up. Huge hugs. We adored Samsuri from our second season on the Pacific Princess in French Polynesia. He is now on his third contract as a supervisor. I love it when good things happen to nice people! The buffet was nearly empty and we talked for a long time to get caught up on him and his family. This ship is so large that it took 11 days for us to see him on board.
It was obvious by late afternoon that I had shared my cold with G (which is how it usually works when we’re sharing a 160 sq.ft. cabin), so I was glad we had stayed in today. It had never cleared, not one bit, and right now, when we are nearly at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay three hours after sailing from Melbourne, the smoke smell on this ship is still strong.
These fires are pretty scary.
We skipped the Elite Lounge tonight and went directly to dinner in the Concerto Dining Room, and then got to the Princess Theater over 45 minutes early for tonight’s production show, Encore. We have had some incredible entertainment on this cruise. This show was accompanied by the Majestic Princess orchestra, the strings duo who play in the Piazza several times each day, and violinist Chris Watkins, our entertainer from last night. I was thinking as we watched it that we would pay more than our daily rate on this cruise to see a show like this at home. Just one more reason we love cruising!
Day 11 dinner menu, page 1
Day 11 dinner menu, page 2
Day 11 dessert menu
Impressionist Keith Scott was also performing a second show tonight in the Vista-less Lounge, and then there were the usual live music opportunities and game shows all around the ship. The lack of Internet access on the Majestic Princess is stressful and frustrating...but we’re still happy we moved from the Ruby Princess.
Day 11 Princess Patter, page 1
Day 11 Princess Patter, page 2
Day 11 Princess Patter, page 3
Day 11 Princess Patter, page 4