First day at sea...Pleasure in abundance!...Photos of our cabin and more...

The cabin contained most of what we needed.  We asked our cabin steward for ice twice a day, extra hangers, pillows, and robes which are provided only if requested.

 "Sightings on the Cruise in Australia"


Replicas or original marine equipment from long ago.

Firstly, we apologize for the late post.  This morning after breakfast in the main dining room, a "Meet & Mingle" party for members of CruiseCritic.com at 10:30, working out in the fitness center and figuring our way around this ship, I encountered a Wi-Fi issue.

We'd signed up for the Wi-Fi package allowing two devices online at any given time.  Last night I got online using my phone, thinking when I was done, I'd logged off properly.


By 3 pm we were entirely unpacked although we didn't use every drawer available.  Also, we both usually leave some items in our luggage that would be needed during the cruise.  There's enough space under the bead to store the luggage to ensure more floor space.

Wouldn't you know, I'd hit "disconnect" but was unable to log on with my laptop when an error message indicated I was already logged on another device.  Frustrated, after all this morning's activities, I couldn't get online for the life of me.


View of the Sydney Opera House as the ship sailed away around 6 pm.

Once we were situated at the Schooner Bar around 1pm I was determined to figure out a solution as to why I couldn't log on to new and improved ship's Wi-Fi system, referred to as high speed Voom.  It does in fact have a much better signal when I could get online.


Passengers on the deck watching the ship move out of Sydney Harbour.

I'm not one to read "help" sections.  In most cases, I riffle through various options and find a solution.  In this case, "help" proved to be just what I needed.  I'd logged off incorrectly.


A city scene from the port of Sydney.

Instead of selecting "disconnect" on my phone I should have brought up a webpage and typed in "logoff.com".  Dumb me.  I should have known this.  What was I thinking?


The area where the bridge is located.

I can make excuses for myself and say my brain was foggy from a poor night's sleep.  We didn't get to bed until midnight after watching the late comedy show in the ship's theatre and were awake by 5 am which really was 6 am after a one hour time change.

Instead of excuses, I'm simply stating, we've been so busy these past few days, its been difficult to find the time to get down to doing what we love to do...writing to all of YOU.


The theatre where we watched the late comedy show last night.  There'll be entertainment here each night.

I was concerned we wouldn't have enough to share over this 33 night cruise and at times we may wander from cruise related topics as many have come to mind over these past weeks.  But, in the interim, we're excited to share our photos and experiences aboard and off the ship, as we explore a variety of Australian cities.

As we recently discovered, there are only 140 Americans on the ship. This is a long way to fly for a cruise. The majority of the passengers are from Australia, some the UK, and a handful of Europeans.  The passenger capacity is 2800 and from what we've heard, the ship is fully booked.


As the theatre began to fill in for the entertainment.  There are two or three shows a night.

With 600 passengers on the back-to-back Australian continent circumnavigation, we'll see about 2200 new passengers boarding when we arrive in Perth when we arrive on November 16th, the day the second 17 night leg commences.

When on a back-to-back cruise there isn't much for us to do to become a part of the second leg.  We'll get new SeaPass ID cards, go through immigration in a priority line as we re-board, after spending the day with friends Michelle and Carlo sightseeing in Fremantle.  It should go smoothly.


Display of nautical knots.

We've met so many people its been mind boggling.  Neither of are good at remembering names although we desperately try to recall everyone we've meet, especially after spending considerable time togehter.

At the moment, Tom is in the cabin watching the Minnesota Vikings Game on his laptop while I'm sitting at the bar in the Schooner Bar where I'd hoped for reasonably ergonomic place to sit to avoid bending over my laptop.  So far, so good.  Pain it as a minimum.  Pleasure is in abundance.


Various knots used at sea.

Tomorrow, we'll share the perks we're enjoying as first time Diamond Club (priority club) members which is "keeping me awake at night" but is also too much fun! More on that later!

Happy day!

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Photo from one year ago today, November 1, 2015

Inside the reception building at Namale Resort & Spa we celebrated our three year anniversary of traveling the world with a tour and lunch at the world renowned resort. For more details, please click here.