Day 39: Disembark Grand Princess in Sydney

This will be as long with as much as I can type before my phone battery dies and we check out of our hotel in The Rocks (the original, historic section of Sydney right next to the Overseas Passenger Terminal).  The Crown Princess is a-waiting. 

Our usual Sydney go-to (the Sydney Harbour hotel, formerly known as the Rydges Sydney Harbour formerly known as the Holiday Inn Old Sydney) is closed for several months for renovations. I became suspicious when I couldn’t get us a room there over a year in advance, but we walked down there yesterday and it is a construction zone. Instead we stayed at the next closest hotel, the Rendezvous Hotel. $350USD a night for a room of questionable cleanliness and poor lighting (but maybe that was a blessing given the condition of the floor). We probably should have gone with the Marriott but it is a bit further and $200 more expensive. I am currently lying on my back traction device on the questionable floor because the bed was crap but in an hour this will be be only a memory (of where not to stay in the future). 

We walked our bags up the hill two blocks to drop them off at the hotel yesterday morning and then swung into Pancakes on the Rocks for second breakfast. We next took a ferry to Manly and hiked the coastal trail to the Sydney Harbour National Park and North Head. We had honed to South Head and the Hornby Lighthouse when we were here seven years ago, but the North Head had remained a goal. Six miles and I literally fell asleep on concrete bleachers with my hoodie as a pillow overlooking Manly Beach when we were done. Took the ferry back to Circular Quay, bought a foot long Subway sandwich to share, wrestled our luggage into our room and ate. Then crashed. Hard. 

It’s so weirdly familiar here, but then it’s our fifth time being in Sydney. I could readily spend a month here…in a cleaner, cheaper place!

Next stop:  the Crown Princess, with its ability to charge our iDevices. 107 pounds of luggage and guess who forgot an Australian adapter? (European adapters, we have three.). That’s why photos of Manly and our hike are non-existent after we got a pic of the beach. We had to save enough battery to tap on and off using our Apple Wallets on our return ferry ride. Live and learn. 

🤭

Manly Beach

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Day 38: At Sea

The final day of a cruise is always a bit sad, but when the cruise is as incredible as this one has been, it’s especially hard. Simply stated, our Pacific Princess French Polynesia cruises excepted, this has been one of the very best cruises we’ve ever done. 

But even the best cruises end, so after breakfast today I returned to the cabin to watch football and begin packing while G was out doing his thing. Good grief I overpacked. I have a pair of shorts that I didn’t wear in 38 days. That’s criminal.  A pair of pants I wore to travel to LA and not since then. But I’ll tell you what I wore…and wore and wore, and that’s my Rip Skirts.  These are as versatile as I’d hope they’d be, and got worn breakfast to evening and as a swimsuit cover up. Highly recommend. 

The Broncos game kept us from going to a final lunch in the Botticelli Dining Room, but that second half demanded to be enjoyed (and stressed over). After it ended we went up to the Lido Deck for grilled chicken breast and fries, and then I camped in the Horizon Court watching more Villa Vie Odyssey videos (There never was a viable business plan. People were so foolish.  This was never anything but a Ponzi scheme.) while G did his packing. 

I didn’t want to pack wet swimwear and so skipped my water workout today, but we enjoyed another gorgeous day, with just a brief passing shower this morning and a very moderate swell. No need to tape the drawers shut tonight. 

We weren’t especially hungry for dinner, but went anyway, to deliver thank you notes and tips to Libres and Sulton, and finished up before the baked Alaska parade. Big hugs at the end. Weep!

Tonight’s Princess Theater show was the Australian Beatles, back for a second performance, and that was much better than the usual final night variety show. Some of the best entertainment of the cruise! 

And finally, some sad news. Doggy Blu is no longer with us. He was the best pup, and is going to be so missed by many, including G and I. We were remembering a walk we once took him on when there was a foot of snow on the ground. He tunneled and tunneled to his heart’s content, and when he resurfaced had a hat of snow between his ears. We still smile about that. 

But to end on a happy note, G sent me this pic that came up his memories today. The boys were 5 years old, we had taken them to an outdoor concert, and, yes, McGee had two broken arms that summer. For two months, Lego building became a team effort. Luckily, I take direction well. 😉

Day 37: At Sea

We enjoyed a thoroughly relaxing day today, with all of my favorite things: a workout, food, more food, multiple desserts, more desserts…and college football. Life is good. 

We’ve been hearing for several days about the brunch being offered today in the Botticelli Dining Room from 8am to 1pm. Then, when we went to breakfast (#1) in Sabatini’s (😆), Argel showed a photo he had taken of the brunch menu. Yep, we knew from that moment that today would be a two breakfast day. I did do a water workout between them in the Calypso Pool (because it was empty), then returned to the cabin to watch the first of a couple of football games (BYU v. ASU). Shortly after 11 a.m. we went down to the Botticelli Dining Room, not knowing what the line might be like to get in. Not bad at all, as it turned out, and that started an hour of additional feasting. I haven’t seen a spread like this on Princess for years, since long before COVID, but I’ve heard it’s something reserved for long cruises and we haven’t done one of those recently either. I guess I’ll know for sure on our Crown Princess cruise. 

I stuck with just shrimp, but then discovered the dessert corner and went a little crazy. When I went back for seconds on pavlova, I was hoping there would be a different server working that area, or that if he was the same person, he wouldn’t remember me. No such luck. “I guess you like pavlova, Mrs. Fish!”  I am definitely not anonymous on this ship. I think it’s time to move on…

Back to the room for the exciting second half of the Iowa State v. Oklahoma State game, and then we went down to the Promenade Deck for a walk to burn off at least some of the food. Let me take a moment to talk about our weather. We’ve enjoyed stellar weather this cruise, some wind at times (overnight being one of them), but our days have been almost universally sunny and dry. The Promenade Deck has been so enjoyable. How have we been so lucky? Am I being greedy to hope we have the same on our return?

We had no right to go to dinner but did (and, yes, there was lobster on the menu…the food budget got busted today), and then went to the Princess Theater for New Zealand comedian Nick Rado. He was good!

We finished the evening with coffee on the Terrace Deck. Football spectatorship starts early tomorrow…like 3am early. Oh wait, daylight savings time ends tonight in the US. I’ve got to think about this…we were 9 hours behind plus a day ahead of EST. So now we’ll be 8 hours behind plus a day ahead. Well, yay. That’s an extra hour of sleep before the games come on. 

NFL Monday. Life is good. :-)

Day 36: Noumea, New Caledonia

The ports are now finished on this 28-night transpacific crossing after we spent the day in Noumea, capital of New Caledonia. We’ll disembark in Sydney on Tuesday, after two days at sea. 

I love Noumea. We’ve been there several times in the past, but not for nearly seven years. I’ve discovered that fact made us rather dangerous when it came to finding our way around. Though we were often correct, at times we were absolutely wrong. At the end of the day, I’m still convinced that at least three major buildings were dismantled, moved and re-constructed in a new location a block or two away. Really!! 😆

Part of the reason we enjoy Noumea so much is that there are numerous ways to spend a day there, but faced with lots of options, we were of one mind about what to do today, and I purchased tickets on Viator yesterday for the HOHO bus and tickets to the Aquarium. It is a surprisingly good one, and we had enjoyed it immensely in the past. Of course, my preference is always to go to an aquarium, but certainly appreciated the fact that it was G’s top choice also. 

We went to breakfast at 7am and walked off the ship with nothing other than IDs and a little cash about 8:30am. Because all large ships dock at a freight port, and despite being right in the city center, shuttle buses take guests to a visitor center just outside of the port (one of those buildings that had moved in the past 7 years, just across the street from where it used to be 😉). Funnily enough, the super marché across the street must have been moved, too, so after trading in our digital coupon for the HOHO bus for two wristbands, we walked across the street and G bought two sodas and I bought bought a baguette for 103 CFP to carry with us for the day. Because that’s what everyone in Noumea is carrying on a Saturday morning. 

The baguette became an ongoing joke between us as I pointed out (in response to G’s questioning look) that it was a very useful item to have on hand. Not only could we eat it, we could fish with it, and eat the fish. And fight off wild animals and bad guys. And when he later proposed we sell everything and live on a yacht moored in Lemon Bay in Noumea, I helpfully suggested we could use our baguette to row our dinghy out to our yacht. Or to fly our flag. Or…you get the idea. We got our money’s worth out of that baguette today in humor alone. 

We spent quite a bit of time at the Aquarium, and sat and gazed a full 30 minutes at the outdoor turtle and shark tank. These sea turtles were massive; one was more than four feet long. 

We still had a little time to spare (it was a short day, with an on board time of 3.30pm) and crossed the street and sat in the beach for awhile, chomping on the baguette. It was getting quite windy and I was glad we hadn’t gone with our second choice for the day, to take the ferry over to Duck Island, as the water looked rough. Amadee Island is even further, 45 minutes away, and we had friends going there for the day. I suspect that was a rough ferry ride. 

We got back to the ship about 2:30pm and went to the Horizon Court for a quick bite to eat. Then we rested for a short time before dinner. I am still mesmerized by this La Villa Vie Odyssey and every day brings a few new videos about it on YouTube. I have a feeling I’ll be binge watching when I should be packing on our way to Sydney. 

Tonight’s Princess Theater entertainment was the Australian Beatles. They were great, and will be back again the final night of the cruise with a whole new set. G claims we’ve seen them before, but I don’t recall them. I remember seeing the British Beatles, the American Beatles and the Italian Beatles but not the Aussie Beatles. But they’ve all been fantastic. 

We’re skipping the Halloween party in favor of bed. It’s really rocking back here in our cabin tonight. I’ve already put duct tape on the drawers to keep them closed overnight. My water workout tomorrow may have to be in a midship pool. Things are pretty sloshy in the Terrace Pool. 

Halloween decorations around the ship

Day 35: At Sea

Another restful sea day with sunny skies, not-to-hot temps, three wonderful meals, Thursday Night Football starting at 11am and my favorite production show Born To Dance) this evening. A very good day. 

We have been so fortunate with our weather this cruise. We had very brief, early morning showers a few times, the kind that happen just before sunrise. But, in general, it’s been dry and warm. It hasn’t even been that windy lately, which has made my pool workouts so much more pleasant. It’s more than made up for being chased around Mexico by two different hurricanes a month ago. 

Speaking of a month ago, today marked the exact halfway point of our journey. I  have been mathing all day, figuring out if I need anything while we’re in Sydney and the answer is no.  Well, Tim Tams, of course, to take home, but nothing aside from that. But, just halfway!! I can hardly believe that. It feels as if we’ve been gone for a lifetime. And what a wonderful lifetime it’s been. We have certainly loved these cruises, this ship, this crew. I am so glad we didn’t let the age of the Grand Princess scare us off. 

We spent some time on the Terrace Deck after I worked out this morning, but I was in the cabin in time to watch the first half of the Green Bay v. Carolina game. Not a great game, but football is football. We went to lunch at halftime, then returned to the cabin for the second half. Hot tub time, dinner and a show finished the day. 

We ate in Noumea, New Caledonia tomorrow and I booked an excursion through Viator while at lunch today. We’ve been there several times, but still we love it. There arts plenty of options for things to do, the weather is supposed to be good and I’m just relieved their intermittent political unrest has calmed down again and we can stop there.