February 29th - Yorkey's Knob Australia

Another hot and humid day today but as we start to go south in the next few days we should be cooling down.  This is another port in Australia as we make our way around the country.  Fred and I think we’re starting to develop Australian accents!

Today we were near Cairns the largest city in the state of Queensland Australia.  We didn’t actually go into Cairns instead we took an hour’s drive up the coast to Port Douglas.  This is a seaside town that kind of reminded us of Carmel in California, but not as busy or expensive!  We had beautiful scenery all the way to town.

This area is tropical with the Great Barrier Reef just offshore and the largest rainforest in the country just onshore.  We passed acres and acres of sugar cane fields, one of the largest crops in this area.  They export it to Japan but also turn it into rum, molasses and refined sugar for their own use.

Once in town we took a walk along a cliff path that started at the local beach.  The white booms mark the edge of the swimming area.  Unfortunately, large stinger jellyfish are in these waters.  This is the sign at the beach, don’t ask me what slip slap means!

These first aid stations were all over, I thought it was a joke at first but no that’s a bottle of vinegar.  If you get stung you pour it over the wound to get the jellyfish to let go.

The walk along the cliff face was very picturesque.  There are places where the town resembles Hawaii.

We had four hours on our own here and really three hours would have done just as well. We did have a great lunch and good gelato.  We’ve learned that they call gelato - ice cream here, even though it’s really not.  For gelato it was good, for ice cream it wasn’t. One more sign we came across today…

Our ship is too big to dock at the Cairns pier so we had to tender in to shore.  This usually means taking the ships’ smaller vessels to a nearby dock.  Today we were lucky to have the use of two large catamarans to help with the process because it was a long ride into town.  I think we were anchored two miles off shore.  On the way back after our day in Port Douglas we got stuck in one of the small tenders…and the wind had picked up and we had two miles to get to the ship.  It was rough and water would lightly cascade in at times.  People near the doors got a little wet and three ladies sitting near Fred and I looked scared to death.  We all got back safely but tomorrow is another tender port!

So, here we are near the Great Barrier Reef and we didn’t actually go out to see the coral, what’s up with that?  There was one excursion out to the reef ($226 pp).  You travel by catamaran for 1 ½ hours out to the reef where you get four hours on an anchored pontoon.  If you want to go into the water you have to wear a ‘stinger suit’.  We only saw pictures but they look exactly like wet suits, only they look lighter and are probably made of a different material.  I really don’t know how to swim and there was little else to do for four hours out on this pontoon so we passed on that. 

Other excursions took you to the rainforest or on a cable car above the rainforest or on a train through the rainforest or into Cairns.  We enjoyed our day in Port Douglas and it was great to see some of the countryside.

In other news…as I mentioned in a previous post, Cunard had given us $250 each for missing various ports or maybe it was for enduring 13 sea days, one or the other.  We got a letter last night that Cunard is also giving us $1340 per person in future cruise credits.  These credits can be used on any future Cunard cruise now for sale.  This is in keeping with what the other lines are doing.  They’re trying to keep their loyal customers. 

In still other news…the Holland America world cruise announced itinerary changes (we took the 2017 HAL world cruise so still follow what they do).  They will skip all their Asian ports and stops in the Maldives will be cancelled.  They also cancelled Kenya, but that seems more related to some terror attacks on tourists there.   They are substituting three days in Mumbai India.  That’s funny for a couple of reasons, first getting an Indian Visa is not a walk in the park, I know I have one.  Second, I’ve been to Mumbai for a two day stay and really that’s plenty.  I’m not sure what I would do with three days!

We went to a cocktail party given by the Captain last night in honor of the world cruise passengers (us).  A number of people there are worried about our stop in South Africa.  I’m not sure why, there’s nothing happening there now but that would be a major blow for us if it happened.  Those stops, and Israel were the two high points of the voyage.  If we missed Africa, that would be tough.  Here’s hoping it won’t happen!

Tomorrow we are in Arlie Beach, another jumping off point for the Reef!  It’s also the day we finally get back on schedule for the world cruise.  We were always supposed to be in Arlie Beach on March the 1^st!

February 27th and 28th - Great Barrier Reef

For the last couple of days, we’ve been gliding through the Torres Strait at the very top of Australia touching on the northern most part of the Great Barrier Reef.  These nav charts show our position.

We are mostly in very shallow water, about 4 meters or 13 feet.  That’s not much for a huge ship like this.  We have a pilot on board, an expert navigator for this area who is helping the bridge staff and also providing commentary for our sometimes very slow journey through the area.  This is a picture of the pilot boat and a customs plane buzzing overhead.  As you can see from the nav pictures above, we are very close to Papua New Guinea.  They have a problem with smugglers and with refugees coming to Australia by boat and small plane.  We’ve seen a number of official boats and planes on this stretch as they patrol the area.

The scenery is stunning and the photos really don’t do justice to the changing color of the water.  At times it’s a stunning aqua blue but on film it just looks flat.  The various outcroppings and islands will have to suffice for today.  We are getting very close to some of them as you can see.

The Torres Strait takes us from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and into the Coral Sea.  The Coral Sea is the home of the Great Barrier Reef and also to many famous WWII battles.  Surprisingly they are not having speakers on that latter subject but happily we have had some good talks on the Reef itself and the many challenges facing it as the water temperature rises and pollution encroaches.

Today, Friday, marks the one-half point of this trip, so I guess you could say we’re on our way home now, sort of.  We are 15 hours ahead of the east coast of the US and will lose a few more hours before we start moving the clock back after Melbourne.

We heard that the Crystal Serenity, a high-end cruise ship on its own world cruise had made changes to their itinerary because of the virus.  They are currently in New Zealand and are heading for Sydney Australia.  They began their trip in LA and had the Asian part of their voyage ahead of them.  Of course, they cancelled all those ports, no surprise there.  What is surprising is they are not allowing any new passengers on in Sydney (as of the time of this writing we still are).  Instead they are telling their current passengers that they can get off in Sydney, or at the end of the voyage in Rome…and that’s it.  There will be no other disembarkation allowed.  

They will circumnavigate Australia in the opposite direction from where we just came and then go 8 straight sea days to Mumbai, India before finishing the rest of their trip through the middle east and Europe.

In other news one of our final stops, Tenerife in the Canary Islands is having virus problems but we won’t be there until mid-April so too early to predict what will happen.  A Regent ship, also on its world voyage was denied docking in Samoa and American Samoa this past week.  There are no sick people on the ship, they were just denied entry.  The ship was able to continue onto Fiji their next port. 

We talked to an Australian couple today who had a friend on the Diamond Princess, the ship held in quarantine by the Japanese.  They told us that people were confined to their rooms, maybe let out for a couple of hours every other day but that’s it.  Their food was left for them in the hall and the staff didn’t come into to clean the room.  What a nightmare for those vacationers.  Their friend was ill with a possible stress related (who can blame them) ailment but is okay now and will soon be back in Australia.

For us, we still have smooth sailing for now.  We’re in Yorkey’s Knob, the port for Cairns (pronounced Cans) tomorrow.  It will be great to be off the ship!

February 25th - Darwin Day 2

This is what Fred and I felt like doing all day today!  This kid had the right idea.  It was another very hot and humid day today although the breeze was up and that helped as long as you weren’t in the sun.

Sun protection becomes a big part of your routine down under.  We use loads of sunblock and also wear hats whenever we’re outside.  I noticed the locals don’t necessarily follow suit but maybe they’ve built up a tolerance.

Today, we took the shuttle into town, about a 10-minute drive or so.  We could have walked in and we did walk back but we decided to reserve some energy in the morning.  Before we could board the shuttle, we were cornered by Australian customs.  A number of us were lined up at random for an inspection by the sniffer dog looking for agricultural products and the like.  They asked me and another person to hold a tote bag that was being used to test the dog.  He did stop and sniff longer at the bags but I’m not sure what his reaction was supposed to be.  At any rate they thanked us for helping out and we were off.

Of course, the ship offers all kinds of shore excursions, like the one we did yesterday.  Among the offers for today: a trip to see the Jumping Crocodiles($104pp); a leisurely tour of Darwin($69pp); visit a local wildlife park ($98pp); ride a Segway through the botanical gardens($146pp); take a harbor cruise($94pp) or go to a National Park($154pp). 

Our plan today was to walk along the town’s esplanade in a beautiful park we saw yesterday.  There was a bike trail going the length of the park and several plaques with information about the town and the Japanese attack in 1948.  This included a memorial to the USS Peary, the only American ship to be sunk during the attack.  It caught fire and unfortunately most men on board died.  President Obama was here in 2010 and participated in a memorial service.  Some of the ships have been salvaged and this gun was brought up from the Peary and stands as a memorial to the men.

We got a good view of our ship from the cliff.  We were about a mile or two away (this picture is zoomed) but we could hear the distinctive tones broadcast by the bridge before they make an announcement.  We are trained to those tones now.  When we hear them, we stop and listen!  Cunard has a policy where they don’t bother the guests with announcements except for a noon broadcast by the Captain that generally lasts a few minutes and provides information on our location, depth of the ocean, etc.  If we hear the tones at any other time, it’s generally a big deal and we all listen.  Today while we were at the park there was a crew drill going on so we knew what the tones were about.  It was just funny to hear them from so far away.

I forgot to mention yesterday that we saw several Wallabies while we were out at the Defense Museum.  These are like smaller Kangaroos except their noses are more rounded.  Very cute.  Some on the tour also saw a dingo but we didn’t see it.

Upon returning to the cruise terminal we were asked to complete a survey.  These are really helpful to the tourist bureau and I was glad to spend the 5 minutes or so to do it.  They wanted to know how you liked things of course, but also how much you spent on food and then souvenirs.  We really aren’t buying souvenirs on this trip so our ‘food’ amount seemed very large by comparison.  We know we could go back to the ship and eat for free but it’s great to get something different and try out the local eateries.  A lot of places had kangaroo on the menu, we did not partake.

So now we have three days at sea and then we’re in Cairns for a day although Fred and I will be going to a seaside town an hour or two away instead.

February 24th - Darwin Australia Day 1

Darwin is up at the top of Australia and the capital of the Northern Territory with a population of about 127,000 people.  We are pretty close to the equator here and we certainly felt it today.  The temperature was around 92 degrees with 100% humidity.  It was tough to take but we’re tough vacationers!  Although the city has been a boomtown in the past, right now they are struggling a bit.  They’re glad to see the cruise ships coming and adding a little to their economy.  The tourist bureau people were at the dock handing out all kinds of information.  I snagged one of these maps of the city that doubled as a fan and believe me I used it throughout the day.

Today we took a shore excursion to learn about the Defense of Darwin.  Darwin was the only place in Australia to be attacked by the Japanese during WWII.  On February 18, 1942, the Japanese conducted two bombing raids on the town, sinking many ships in the harbor as seen on the map below.

The Japanese were concerned about the buildup of ships in the area.  There were Australian, American and British ships using Darwin as a base.  Japan had already taken over areas very close to Australia and they wanted to destroy the threat posed by these ships. 

Most women and children had been evacuated from the town after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, still there were many civilian casualties along with of course the sailors on the sunken ships.  We went to the Defence of Darwin Museum (that’s not a spelling error, that’s just the Aussie spelling).  The museum was fascinating to us.  The exhibits were well done and they had examples of the guns that tried to protect the city that day.

One of the exhibits I found interesting was an actual gun turret from a WWII era plane.  How on earth did a grown man fit into this thing?  This turret would hang from the belly of the plane and in combat the gunner would be shooting at the enemy.  It must have taken amazing courage.

Just a few years after the war the Australian government put out a contract to salvage the ships at the bottom of the harbor.  Interestingly enough, the contract was awarded to a Japanese company.  Another story told us by the guides involved a natural gas well and pipeline recently built off the coast of Australia by the Japanese.  The gas will be piped ashore near Darwin and be shipped to Japan, if Australia wants some of it, they will have to pay.  The guides did not seem happy about this!  In a twist of fate, while the Japanese were building the plant they came upon an unexploded Japanese bomb (this part is true).  The company called the Australian government and asked them to remove it, supposedly the government said something like ‘you put it there you remove it’.  I’m not sure that was actually said but the guides liked the story.

We got to see some of the city while driving around including some very nice homes along the shore and then of course there is our view from the ship. 

After the tour we asked to be let off in town and we walked around quite a bit despite the heat and humidity.   All over town there are art displays using recycled materials.  This one involved the clever use of plastic bottles that somehow stayed together with wire, though we couldn’t really tell how. We will be here overnight and we’re going back into town tomorrow.  It’s supposed to be windy because of a Cyclone to our east.  It shouldn’t affect us because the latest track shows it going in land where it will weaken (fingers crossed). 

In the evening we sat out on the deck taking in the night air when the Captain walked by.  We had a nice conversation with him and we took the opportunity to compliment Cunard on how they handled this whole coronavirus situation.  He told us that a lot went into the decisions made and things were changing hour by hour during the whole process.  This is the first time we’ve sailed with Captain Hashmi and we like him a lot.

While taking a turn on the deck I got a picture of the azipod (propeller) blades bolted to the bow of the ship.  The QM2, unlike most cruise ships was built to last 45 years as such they couldn’t count on the shipyard still being in business if they should ever need new blades, so they had these extras made and put on the ship where they double as art.  The picture with Fred in it is to give you some prospective.

Note to Chris and John:  if you’re reading this, I want you to know that I put your email addresses in a very safe place…so safe I can’t find them now!  When you can send us an email so we know you got home safe and sound!

February 21st - Fred's Birthday at Sea

Today Fred turned 74 and we celebrated by going to the specialty restaurant on board, The Verandah.  It’s set up like an American steakhouse where they come around with cuts of meat for you to choose from.  They describe each one and how they recommend you have it cooked.  After you make your selection, they come around with a tray full of sharp knives to choose from.  They had different styles and handles with some designed for the ‘ladies’ while others for men, but of course you can choose which ever one you like.  Here’s Fred awaiting dinner.

After dinner we usually take a walk around the deck and then go to the show.  Last night we did the opposite.  It was a little early when I took this picture but the theater was full by the time the show started.  Last night it was a comedian/musician from Texas who is now an Australian citizen.  I’m not sure everyone got the jokes.  A couple of Americans behind us laughed through the whole show but the Brits sitting beside us did not.  It’s a tough thing to make everyone happy.  After the show we took a stroll around the deck, I was surprised so many others were out there too.

As I mentioned before, our last port stop, Fremantle, was the replacement for Hong Kong (then Singapore).  A number of people opted out of the trip altogether so that left Cunard with a lot of empty cabins especially between Fremantle and Sydney, where the next official segment begins.  They remedied this by offering extremely low rates to those willing to do the 17-day trip from Fremantle to Sydney.  Great for them, but what about those folks who already paid full fare to do the same segment (albeit from HK originally)?  Apparently, there are some unhappy people on board!

Yesterday, we talked to one of the Aussies who took up the offer from Cunard.  She and her husband were on a camping trip when they got the email and immediately stopped their trip, came home to East Fremantle and signed up.  We didn’t ask how much but it must have been VERY good.  The Aussies who got the great fare have been talking about it all over the ship.

There’s a website called Cruise Critic that serves as a forum for people looking for information about cruises and also offers opportunities for folks to come together ‘virtually’ before beginning their trip and exchange information.  There was a ‘roll call’ for this voyage in place a year in advance of our leaving.  Those folks get together periodically on the ship and the ship has allowed them to set up a message board near the internet center.  I thought that was pretty nice, the ship didn’t have to do it. 

Well…. yesterday we went by the board and saw a large, computer printed letter to everyone that said in part ‘the only subject for their next get together should be about getting adequate compensation’ to make up for the sale prices given to the mainly Australian customers.  It went on to talk about filing claims, etc. 

Have you ever seen a typewritten note and knew it was ‘written’ in anger?  It wasn’t signed and since it was typewritten you couldn’t tell the handwriting.  The note was not on the board today.  Who knows who removed it?  We’ll have to keep our ears to the ground!😵

The Aussie lady we spoke to said they were supposed to come aboard on Tuesday but her husband had a small fever so they were sent away and told to come back Wednesday, if he was alright, they would be allowed on the ship.  Apparently, the fever went down because they are on board.

Cunard regularly puts on speakers who talk on a wide range of topics, most of them are pretty interesting and we attend a lot of them.  Yesterday a retired Australian General and former Governor-General of Australia spoke.  The ‘governor-general’ position is appointed and I think it’s largely ceremonial. I know Canada has one too but I’m not sure of their exact duties.  In any case the Prime Minister has the real power.

He spoke on Australia’s relationship with nearby countries and with China, the U.S. and Russia.  It was interesting especially when he talked about being a firm US ally but that didn’t mean being in lock step with us at all times.  They have to maintain good relations with China because they ‘live’ in the Asian world down here. 

As an aside he mentioned there were about 850 on board from the UK, 650 from Australia and 425 from the US.  There are lots of other nationalities on board too but he didn’t want to go through the list.  We’ll be watching out for his future talks.

This is a picture of our cruise calendar.  Our travel agent provides this to hang in our room and keep track of all the stops.  It’s usually very helpful, not so much this time, lots of cross outs and some add ons.  The note on the 29^th says Yorkey’s Knob…that’s a place.

Monday we’ll be in Darwin and we’ve already been warned there is a tropical depression in the area that might kick up the wind on our arrival day.  Wind and a huge ship trying to maneuver in a harbor is not a good mix.  Hopefully we’ll be able to get in okay.

February 19th - Fremantle, Australia

We started the day with some boat entertainment outside our balcony window.  All the tenders and life boats from our side of the ship (starboard) were lowered and put through their paces in the marina. 

The all orange ones are life boats, they are not used as tenders to transport people to shore.  The ones with windows are the tenders…but they are used as life boats as well (if God forbid it was ever necessary!).  I’ve never seen the interior of a life boat until this one went by us with some of the flaps up.  The seats kind of look like toilet seats, which come to think of it if the ship were sinking…

Today we spent the day in Fremantle seeing the sites. We started with the Western Australia Maritime Museum, about a 20-minute walk away.  They had exhibits on the rich maritime history of the area.  Fremantle, being the biggest port on the Indian Ocean has seen waves of immigration, whalers, convicts and during WWII, a lot of American submarines.  In fact, hundreds of US subs were stationed here during the war. 

One of the biggest exhibits was dedicated to Australia II, the boat that won the America’s Cup in 1983.  This was a huge event in Australia.

Another special exhibit was devoted to Ancient Roman engineering, not really maritime related but it was pretty interesting and we spent a lot of time in there.  I wasn’t sure if pictures were permitted but no one was taking any so I didn’t. Good exhibit though.

After this we walked over to the Round House, the oldest standing structure in Western Australia.  It served as the first civilian jail.  From the top we had a great view of the local beach and the one of the main retail streets in town, High Street.

All along High Street there were buildings going back to the days when Fremantle was an important seafaring community.  Most of the buildings now house the University of Notre Dame.

We briefly visited the Fremantle Prison, built in the 1850’s by the very convicts that were housed here.  The convicts were brought in to support the colony.  They built the roads, buildings and infrastructure of the port.  Most men did not serve their full sentences.  They were given ‘leave’ to move to other areas of the region although they were never allowed to go back to Great Britain.  Some were eventually pardoned.  Many were able to escape.  At one-point Irish political prisoners were brought here and some of them were able to convince whaling ships from New England to take them aboard and to America.

It was a hard life after release as they were not generally accepted into society even when they were pardoned.  There was a stigma attached to being one of the convicts.  Even into modern times, people hid that part of their family tree although now it’s starting to become more fashionable to have a convict in your past.

After visiting the prison, we were on the hunt for some great pizza, and we found some!  You might wonder, isn’t there pizza on board ship?  Yes, there is, but is it great?  No, it’s not.

Somewhere along the way today I managed to scuff up my favorite pair of sneakers.  I don’t know where or how but it was a black carbon based something or other that wouldn’t come off.  We dropped into a local Sketchers store and they wanted $129 for a pair that I know I can get at home for far less, I just couldn’t do it. By the end of the day I was able to pick up a couple of pair, not great ones but good enough to walk around the ship. 

We then went back to Target and picked up some socks.  Fred witnessed a funny scene while I was in another area of the store.  There was a guy trying on shoes, after trying to get one on he threw it down to the floor and yelled” G**d dammit these don’t work, they say they’re size 9 but they don’t fit”.  He tried again and yelled the same thing.  Finally, a sales person came over and told him he was trying on women’s shoes…he made no comment.  I hope he wasn’t from our ship.

At the checkout line a lady behind us asked us if we were from the ship (we felt like celebrities today), we said yes and she apologized for the weather!  It’s hot but it really wasn’t too bad. She just wanted us to have a nicer weather day for our visit.

Sail away tonight was beautiful.  There were a dozen sailboats seeing us off and people had driven out to the end of the jetty to wave goodbye.  All and all a good visit!  We have four days at sea going north up the west coast of Australia before hitting Darwin on the 24^th and 25^th.

February 18th - Perth, Australia

We are finally on dry land!  It didn’t go unnoticed by those of us on the ship that we’ve been at sea for 14 days.  That’s the incubation period of the coronavirus.  Maybe it was a coincidence…who knows but we all arrived healthy and let’s hope we stay that way.  About 800 new people came aboard today give or take.

We are actually docked in Fremantle a smallish city at the mouth of the Swan River.  We will explore Fremantle tomorrow but today we made the trip into Perth. 

This area first got attention from the British in the 1820’s who wanted to develop it but there was a problem, a severe shortage of labor, so the they starting shipping convicts here between 1850 and 1868 to help establish Fremantle and Perth.  In all 9,721 convicts were transported to the area.  They even built their own prison in Fremantle; it was only decommissioned in the 1990’s and is now a UNESCO world heritage site as it is the only prison actually built by the prisoners.  We’ll probably see it tomorrow.

Once off the ship and through Australian customs we were greeted by the local tourist office volunteers, they were great.  I already knew I wanted to take the train into Perth but they gave us advice on where the ATM’s were (very important as we had no money) and how to get around once in Perth. 

To get from the cruise terminal to the main road you have to take a pedestrian footbridge and there was another tourist bureau person there to help out…same at the train station and they even put someone at the ticket machines to help you there.  Wonderful help at every turn.  This is the train taken from our balcony on the ship.

The train from Fremantle to Perth takes about 30 minutes, it’s a commuter line with several stops.  The cost is $4.80 Australian one way so for the two of us it came to $6.59 USD.  Of course, there were a number of people from our ship on the same train.  There was also an American woman whose daughter lives in Perth, the women visits from Michigan for several weeks during the winter each year.  She was really helpful giving all of us some tips on Perth.

Once in Perth we decided to go directly to King’s Park, just outside the city.  To get there we took the number 935 bus for free just a couple blocks from the train station.  Again, people could not have been more helpful, the bus driver helped us with the best stop to get off in the park and told us how to get back into the city (using the same free bus).  The park is beautiful with great views of the city.  They had an extensive botanical gardens and a raised walkway so you could walk among the treetops.    

Once back in town we walked down by the river and went up to the bell tower to get the view.  We spent some time talking to one of the guys who worked there and he told us a lot about Perth.  Perth is the capital of Western Australia and is considered to be the most isolated large city in the world.  I asked him if people drive across country, like people do in the States, and he said no…you could but no one would do it.  The highway is for long haul truckers.  Most people fly (5 hours to Sydney) or there is a train that goes across the southern part of the country.  Most people in Australia live on the coast, the interior is pretty barren.

We liked Perth a lot, a very nice city with friendly people everywhere you turn.  There aren’t a lot of ‘must see’ sites but it’s a pleasant, clean and well laid out city surrounded by the Swan River. The weather was hot, near 90 degrees but there was a nice breeze all day so we really didn’t feel it.  Once we got back to Fremantle though…the breeze was gone and we could feel the heat.  We wanted to pick up a few things so we went up to Target…yes Target.  Same name, same symbol (bullseye) as in the U.S. but supposedly they are not connected, at least not by ownership.  It really wasn’t as nice as our Target back home but we may go back tomorrow to pick up a few things. 

We next went to Coles (no not Kohl’s like back home).  It’s mostly a grocery store, but they did have clothes and a little of a lot of other things.  We picked up some things there including a carton of diet coke to keep in our room fridge.  Tomorrow we’ll be spending more time in Fremantle so we may pick up more supplies then.

Tired and hot we made our way back to the ship.  The new passengers were buzzing around, wondering where to go…newbies!  At ten minutes to six the Captain came on the speaker and said we had to turn the ship around (what?) and they were going to do it at six o’clock and it will take about an hour.  Fred and I went to the balcony to watch people scurry from the terminal building to get on the ship before the gangway was taken up.  I can only imagine what folks on shore may have thought as they saw the ship cast off lines and leave the dock.  There was no warning of this at all.  The ship is now back in place but now our balcony faces the container facility and not the town.

So, tomorrow we’re off to explore Fremantle

February 17th - At Sea

This has been our view for the last 13 days at sea.  Actually, it’s been a lot calmer than this picture I took today.  This is the first day we’ve had some swells but you really can’t feel the difference at midship where we are.  You can feel it a little at the bow where the theater is but otherwise, we’ve had smooth sailing.

The other day we passed within a couple of miles of Krakatoa, the famous volcano.  It’s famous for a massive eruption in August of 1883 that was felt as far away as Perth Australia, 2000 miles away.  And if you’re a certain age it will also be famous for a very unsuccessful movie that was promoted as Krakatoa – East of Java, accept it’s actually west of Java…oh well.  We went by at night so you could only see its outline, but it was very distinctive as a volcano.

Tomorrow, thankfully, we put into Fremantle for two days.  We have to undergo a face to face inspection with Australian Customs tomorrow morning while getting off the ship.  They are very strict in Australian when it comes to food, plants, seeds, etc. You can only take water off the ship with you.  Today, at the buffet, where there is usually whole fruit, they only had cut up items.  They want to make sure no one is tempted to take an apple or an orange or God forbid a banana on shore tomorrow.  There will probably be sniffer dogs at the terminal, we’ve seen that before.

In addition, I imagine there will be more health questions then usual.  In his noon announcement today, the Captain addressed concerns about people coming ON the ship tomorrow, both crew and passengers.  He said that in addition to the rigorous inspection they will have been through to get into Australian, the ship will also do a health assessment of everyone coming on board.  The goal is to keep our ship healthy and not allow any infected people on board. 

The Captain said about 800 people will be leaving the ship tomorrow.  These are the last of the people who would have gotten off in Hong Kong (that later became Singapore if you’ve been keeping up) had we still been going there.  I doubt that many new people will be coming on.  Cunard ‘allowed’ people who were scheduled to come on in Hong Kong/Singapore to cancel their reservations because of the port changes.  I assume when the word, ‘allowed’, is used it means without penalty but I don’t know that for sure.  I did read on the Cruise Critic Cunard forum that Cunard is trying to sell this upcoming segment from Fremantle to Sydney at bargain rates, something like $55 a day for an inside cabin.  Balcony cabins and suites are also a good deal.

We got a letter from Cunard saying we would receive $250 a piece in compensation for the missed ports after we leave Fremantle.  This compensation will be added to our ‘on board credit’ (OBC).  We started with $1750 in OBC, this was a combination of early booking benefits and veterans’ credit (for Fred).  When we got on board, we got another $380 back in port fees because Naples was cancelled.  We assume the $500 (for the 2 of us) will be added to our non-refundable OBC of $1750.  The $380 is a refundable credit, meaning if we don’t use it on board it will be refunded to our credit card.  The non-refundable amount is use or lose.  We have used some of it (expensive haircuts for example). 

We’ve also used some of the refundable credit when I got local Dubaian currency from the ship.  I’ll probably use some again tomorrow to get a little Australian money before we leave.  I’d rather just use an ATM but I haven’t been able to find one near the port on google.  I’m sure we’ll find one in Perth.

It's expected to be hot and windy tomorrow, high around 91 degrees.  We’ll be wearing hats and plenty of sunscreen.  The sun here in the southern hemisphere is brutal and Australia tops the list in skin cancer diagnoses.  

One last thing…the Captain said we’ve traveled 16,380 nautical miles from New York City so far!

February 14th - Happy Valentine's Day

This cut watermelon was just one of the surprises seen at the lido buffet this afternoon.  They also had ice sculptures, valentine day themed cakes, cupcakes, cake pops…you name it. There was a lot of sugar to be had by all.  I didn’t have my camera at lunch so couldn’t get pictures.  Of course, that is supposing I could get close enough to get pictures of course.  People on cruise ships sometimes act like they’ve never been fed before.  You don’t want to get between them and something new on the buffet line!

Unfortunately, the ship was unable to procure flowers while we were getting supplies in Port Kelang the other day so they announced they could not fulfill the valentine’s day flower orders.  That means every guy on the ship can say, ‘honey, I ordered the flowers for you, it’s not my fault…’

Speaking of Port Kelang I found out that only 100 people got off there to go home.  As I mentioned before people who were supposed to get off in Hong Kong/Singapore were allowed to stay on to Fremantle at no extra charge if they wanted, so it seems a lot of people took them up on that.  The bad news for them is now they need to get Australian Visa’s before we get there.  They are easily obtained online (we got ours before leaving of course) but it does require internet time, hence a very long line at the internet center the other day with some unhappy people waiting quite a while to be helped. 

We crossed the equator at 8PM last night.  In celebration of that the ship held a ‘crossing the line’ ceremony where pollywogs (those who have never crossed before) become shellbacks (like Fred and I…been there done that…).  Somehow this is accomplished by kissing a fish and an elaborate ceremony, none of which I was able to get a picture of because I arrived too late.  I did get a picture of the crowd looking down on the pool area.  Those people standing on balconies with two levels of glass behind them are in the highest priced suites on the ship.  They are duplex suites and they cost a lot.  They come with a butler and your own exercise equipment.  Nice if you can afford it.

We continue our journey to Fremantle where we hope to make landfall on Tuesday.  The tour office is under a lot of pressure to put out a list of shore excursions for our two days there.  Nothing has appeared thus far and we’re not sure what the holdup is.  We’re not planning on doing any tours with the ship during the two days ourselves but others are impatient.

The Captain gave a ‘virtual bridge tour’ as a presentation today.  He has a great sense of humor.  He talked about his time on the staff of a ship that went back and forth between Sweden and the U.S. delivering Volvos.  He said there was no getting off that ship for 14 days…’just like this cruise’…it got a big laugh. 

We’re having a lot of sea days because of all the changes.  Happily, some of the presenters who were supposed to get off in Hong Kong/Singapore stayed on and lucky for us they are really interesting.  We’ve been gaining weight lately so we’re trying to watch what we eat (darn that valentine’s day stuff).  I was planning to get my haircut in Singapore but had to have it done here on the ship.  I’ve never spent so much money on a haircut!  The cost comes out of our ‘on board credit’, this is money given to you by the cruise line for your loyalty or because you reserved early.  Even still, the haircut doesn’t justify the amount spent.

We’re sailing in the doldrums now, very calm seas and not many ships around.  We should be entering the Indian Ocean later tonight.