Thursday - At Sea

As we put our clocks ahead last night, I set an alarm just so we didn’t miss our 9:15 continuous cruisers meet up in the theater this morning. This gave us time for a coffee run that Kelly kindly carried out.  I took the time to fill out our incoming passenger cards for our arrival back into Sydney on Saturday morning. 

Our meeting lasted about 30 minutes and explained how we will be processed as we must "technically" end our cruise and begin another.  The process is straight forward and we will have all our stuff packed into suitcases (except anything on clothes hangers) and the cabin staff will move it all to our new room.  We just have to go the Fine Cuts Steakhouse and pick up our new Sea Pass card for our return later to the ship. We are also allowed to take our safe items and place them in the safe in our new room (which will not be ready) 

 

 

We walked around and saw the neat Halloween displays by the Cafe Al Bacio. There were all well done and also included the pastries etc in the display case! Lots of different costumes are on display by passengers.

We went to the Ship Navigation Show in the theater which was put on by the second in command, the Staff Captain. He explained general navigation procedures using the ships modern systems compared to what was done in the past. He also went over the ships systems with emphasis on recycling and fresh water production. It was very informative.

Following that part of the show, the senior officers as well as the captain put on a Q & A for the guests. Some good questions were asked and, as a seasoned crew, they had answers for everything. One of the questions was "why did the ship go way off shore going from Cairns to Port Douglas as this seemed to be a waste of fuel?" The answer was simple in that the ship had been in both Airlie Beach and Cairns for 72 hours and the holding tanks that held grey & black water needed to be offloaded. This water is processed prior to release into the ocean and regulations requires a 12 nautical mile distance from shore but Celebrity takes it out 36 nautical miles. There were other questions about accidents and incidents but the captain, clearly a knowledgeable person, handled it all very well explaining that the human error chain starts long before the actual accident. It is understanding this fact and breaking that chain that prevents these human errors from occurring and becoming full blown accidents.... lots of similarities to aviation safety that I lived and breathed for 40 years.  

Next on our agenda was lunch at Eden and we were seated with a great view. The food was amazing and certainly our favorite restaurant so far with several others a close second.

 

Next up was a cruise through the casino and see what was happening... not much really as we gave a few dollars to the Celebrity kitty. We headed to the 2:30 show featuring The Other Guys and we enjoyed some more oldies from the past. 

 

At 4 p.m. we went for a cabin crawl with Bill & Noelene’s up first on deck 9. (This is close to our next cabin location that we will be moving to for our Tasmania & New Zealand cruises)  It featured a front viewing window and looked very comfortable. They had treats from the cafe and some cold wine for us. All very nice. This was followed up by our cabin on deck 8. We didn't have much to offer only some chocolate covered licorice! We will up our game next time!  Last on our crawl was George & Avis’s cabin on Deck 3. All very spacious with similar decor. They went all out and had a bottle of champagne served up with chocolate treats and olives as well!  It was nice to see what other cabin types were available. 

 

As happy hour was fast approaching, we all headed off to the Martini Bar and enjoyed a drink there but it was crowded so we strolled to the back of the ship to Eden. It was nice & quiet and we enjoyed the views out the back. Drinks came and we then went for dinner in the Cosmopolitan. It was all very good and even had pumpkin pie for desert! George wasn't a big fan after tasting it so Kelly help finish it off.

A little gambling on the way back to the room then it was lights out for this pair.

Steps today 5200

Wednesday - At Sea & Willis Island

 Slept in until 8 a.m. this morning.... with the huge shade down, the room was very dark which certainly helps.

Some incoming texts this morning from our son Kris who is in Chicago at an ALPA Convention and from Lauren, our daughter, who has de-facto taken over as my editor. Usually I write up the blogs and Kelly then spell/grammar checks it and adds bits and pieces that I may have missed. Well she is now fast asleep when I finish up so this is where Lauren saves the day. I did fixed yesterday's blog errors:-)

After some busy port days, the sea day is a welcome relief as we are going to try and explore more of the ship today. I will say the whole tendering process has been very well run and when you think about it, getting a couple thousand folks on and off the ship daily is a major undertaking.

Kelly hit the Spa Cafe and grabbed us a couple coffees... very relaxed morning.

Kelly in her favorite perch.. enjoying the day.

We have now sorted out dinners over the last few days of this particular cruise as we have two more "back to backs" after this :-)  We plan to go to Raw On 5 tonight for seafood, a special lunch tomorrow in Eden followed by Fine Cut Steakhouse on the last full day before we arrive in Sydney again.  We will probably repeat all this later next month... yes we are on for a long time.  

We went upstairs to get a good view of Willis Island, a remote weather station that provides information to ships, planes and really the world. The ship did a 360 rotation abeam the island and we had a radio message from one of four people that inhabit the island.. along with 10,000 sea birds. 

We wandered the deck passing the Zumba class being run by Shauna the Cruise Director. Wow that woman has energy!  I was exhausted just watching her! After walking the track, we settled into the solarium with a stunning view seaside. We were just around the corner from the Mast Grill and the smell of onions had us salivating. A cheeseburger it was as we had our lunch and settled in to some comfortable lounge chairs. ( I had popped down and grabbed iPad’s & knitting etc. from the room as it is just below us.) 

 

Afternoon Solarium view

 

We relaxed and enjoyed a cool beverage as the sun started to come over us. It was slowly getting hotter to the point of excess for Kelly. She suggested it might be time to take in a magic carpet ride. We grabbed a spot out there and enjoyed the cooler breeze. 

Great spot for a beverage!

Forward view

Aft view

 

Showers then dressed up as it is once again "chic night" so we will wear our finest attire.  We went to the Senior Officer’s meet up in Eden and met the senior crew including the captain himself. 

 

Our usual crew was there already so we sat down with them and quickly ordered drinks & got caught up on the days activities.  The crew was introduced and pictures taken. 

Senior Crew

 The captain mentioned that in the last three days of tendering, the crew safely moved 22,400 people. That is incredible.

 

 Dinner was in "Raw on 5" at 6:30 so we cut out of the party a bit early. The sushi dinner was very good and relatively inexpensive in the grand scheme of things. After dinner, I dropped my watch off for a free "general cleaning" with the watch sales people... maybe they will mix it up with the Rolex?

We then made a quick stop at the casino but not much luck again tonight. We headed to the theater for the 9:00 show with singer Will Martin and like clockwork, we met up with Noelene, Bill, Avis & George and found some seats a couple rows back from the stage. The show was very good and while it was underway, an emergency medical call through the ships communication system silenced the performance. Once over, Will was quick to get going again and after finishing up the song explained that these things do happen on the ship and he appreciated everyone's consideration.

Hopefully the medical emergency had a positive outcome.

 

Following the show, Kelly and I headed up to our room and called it a night. Some blogging to finish up and it's lights out for me.

Clocks go ahead tonight. 

 

Steps today 5,600 

Tuesday - Port Douglas

Slept in today but the anchor drop was just as good as an alarm clock!

We lazed around and then prepped for our day trip into Port Douglas.  Hiking and lunch is on the radar.  Weather included showers and wind but it’s 26 degrees so not to bad for us.

 We headed to the usual Fine Cut Steakhouse location to prepare for boarding the tender.  Lots of people going in today as this is the last stop over on this cruise. We even managed to fill up the tender which, by the way, carries 300 passengers.

We left the ship at 10:22 and arrived in Port Douglas in under 10 minutes time... slight chop but nothing that really would effect the trip. Once at the dock, Kelly and I decided to walk along the marina as there were some beautiful yachts moored there.

 

As we walked along, one of the boat owners was cleaning some recently caught fish . He was filleting it and Kelly asked about the fish type. He said it was called a Mangrove Jack and an excellent fish for sashimi and then offered us a piece each. Very mild taste but it couldn't be more fresher.  Great start to our walkabout!

 

 

 We popped into Coles to get water as we had left our water bottles in the stateroom onboard... not sure why? I then pulled up my All Trails app and we walked the outer trail from Rex Smeal Park to several lookouts along the pathway. We continued onward and enjoyed some great views including a hike up to the Flagstaff Hill lookout.

 

All Trails route for our hike today.

 

 

 

 

 

View from Flagstaff Hill Lookout.

 We backtracked a bit until we returned to the lower trail and came out at Four Mile Beach. Kelly headed in to wet her feet in the warm waters. 

 

 

We now returned to the main road called Macrossan Street with it's many shops and eateries along each side. Kelly stopped at several while i checked the brickwork out front :-)

 

 Lunch was at the Tin Shed and it was very good. Kelly had the Prawns and I had the Calamari... we shared a bit :-) and enjoyed a very cold beverage as the heat of the hike had taken a toll. 

Oh so good!!

Nemo!!

Stinger Station

The Tin Shed as we passed by on the tender heading to the ship.

 

We found Port Douglas to be a very user friendly stop as everything is a short walk from the dock. Back on the tender and we were on the ship at just after 3:25 Showered, blogged and changed for our usual Happy Hour(s) at Eden tonight. It had nice live music and a very relaxed atmosphere. We like it! 

 

We then went up to the Ocean View Cafe and enjoyed a variety of food options. All pretty good although Kelly's ribs were a bit on the cold side. 

 

We then stopped by the casino for some gaming activities but the numbers just didn't seem to appear for us tonight so we pulled the pin on that operation and headed to the 9 P.M. show in the theater. We ran into Bill and Noelene going in and after experimenting with different seats up in the upper tier, we eventually sat with them. Tonight's show was called "Kaleidoscope" and was done by the ships singers and dancers and was very energetic and well choreographed. We enjoyed it and then headed to The Club for an ABBA dance party. They had a big screen that had all the words to each song displayed so you could sing and dance along. We met up with George & Avis and had a good time, although Bill skipped and headed for the rack. 

 

It was good fun and we eventually went back to the room to get some sleep. We were done!

Happy Birthday to my sister Carri who turns 59 again :-)

 

Sea Day tomorrow as we head to Willis Island.

Steps today15,350

Monday - Cairns

 Up again at 6 a.m. to finish blogging and grab our coffees... see a routine here! 

As our ship stayed anchored of the coast of Cairns overnight, we caught the 9:20 tender back into Yorkey’s Knob and it was packed with lots of people doing shore excursions through both the ship as well as privately.  Once on land, everyone headed to their respective busses destined for various locations... lots going to Palm Cove. 

Nice comfortable tenders

Tour busses lined up

Marina

Kelly popped over to the little market that was set up on the yacht club's huge deck next door to the busses. There was one lady in particular whom she had chatted with about certain items so back she went. 

After the goods were purchased, we jumped on the cruise supplied free shuttle into the heart of Cairns. The bus arrived safely downtown at 10:30. Kelly had said she needs something at Meyers (code for going to the huge mall and shop!) so off we trekked... only 13 short minutes and we were in Meyers and subsequently the largest retail space in Cairns.... funny how that works. I was watching all the men loiter outside the shops ha... like me. After an hour of cruising through the mall, we popped into a pharmacy and picked up a few items, toothpaste, cough drops etc.

We walked back toward the esplanade via Shields Street (pedestrian walkway with big trees etc.) and found ourselves out near the big splash pool. It was raining at this time but luckily it stopped after a few minutes. 

We had lunch at Boardwalk Social on the waterfront esplanade. It’s nice and close to the bus pickup as well and gave us some nice views of the dreary clouds outside. Fish & chips for both of us and it was very tasty.

 

After lunch we walked the boardwalk again and then headed to the shuttle bus for our trip back to the tenders in Yorkey's Knob.

 

 

Back to the ship.... on the buss at 1:22... on the tender at 1:52 & on the ship at 2:26!

Not too bad for a trip into town and back. We each relaxed a bit and the got ready for the next activity of the day. We have the "Captain's Club Elite Cocktail Session" from 5 til 7 p.m. tonight in the Eden Room. Very nice. Not sure why but we will accept any freebies willingly!! Especially in Eden.

All cleaned up, we headed to the back of the ship to enjoy our cocktail hour(s) and schmooze with the crew there. Lots of folks were there getting free drinks and the bartenders were super busy as one would expect. We grabbed a drink and spotted Bill and Nolene sitting on a couch. We joined them and shortly afterwards Avis arrived. George also came a few minutes later.

We had a great time chatting to these folks along with some others about recent excursions and the plans for tomorrows stop in Port Douglas. We made sure the bartenders earned their keep at this event.

Off to Cosmopolitan for dinner but they could not accommodate a table for six at the time so, after a call to Tuscan, we were ushered over to that dinning room. Quickly seated ahead of the queue, we enjoyed a nice meal and conversation. 

 

A quick stop at the casino followed but there was not a lot of luck going around so it was off to the room and our bed.

 

Steps 10,900

Sunday - Yorkeys Knob/Kuranda

Up and at it just after 6 a.m. and then finished up yesterday’s blog. Yes it happens when I am tired. We went up to the Spa Cafe and had a light breakfast & coffee. 

 We grabbed the backpack and headed to our tender station once again… off the ship at 9 o’clock after running into fellow cruisers Avis & George in the meet up area.  The 15 minute trip was slightly rough but not too bad overall. Our jump off point is Yorkey's Knob and after discussing trip plans, we will now share an Uber with Avis & George as they are winging it with a possible tram ride to Kuranda. As this is our destination, we asked if they wanted to tag along with us. 

After a short wait for the Uber, we quickly arrived at the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway Station which was only about 10 minute drive away. (Uber $16.57) Avis & George managed to get tickets and we were all quickly loaded onto the tram right away. 

 

 

There are two stops along the tram route with the first having a tram car change as well. The first stop was the Boardwalk & Lookout which took us on a short walkabout around the top of the hill, featuring several huge Kapok trees over 400 years old, then to a nice lookout with views of the rainforest. The most interesting thing we found was that in an effort to reach sunlight, plants & trees would grow within the branches of other trees, sort of like a nurse tree we have on the west coast.

 

Going up to the top.

Viewpoint

Ferns growing out of a tree.

Kapok Tree

Luckily nothing on here of any concern!

We spent 15 minutes walking around and then rejoined the next section of tram to yet another stop at the Edge lookout over the Barron Falls. This stop was optional as you could remain on the tram and skip it but we really wanted to see it. After a short walk that led us to the viewpoint, we had a fantastic view of the falls. It was spectacular and really showed the power of water to carve out rock.

 

Barron Falls

Gorge

Our final stop was the village of Kuranda that featured shops and eateries along with Butterfly, Bird and Koala exhibitions. A bit touristy but had a mellow vibe to it all. We wandered the streets and found a nice place to enjoy a refreshing beverage and some lunch. 

 

Barron River

Lost hikers

 

Vine pods

 

Following lunch we continued our walk about with Kelly and Avis bobbing in and out of shops.  (Groups of men gathered outside!) We also found the Market that leads to the exhibitions so both George & Avis did the Koala tour as they had never seen an actual Koala in person.

 

Wall Art

 We eventually returned to the Sky Rail Station in Kuranda and queued up for our return to the Skyrail Rainforest Station near Smithfield. Lots of people heading back this time. 

We hailed an Uber and returned to the main parking lot at "the knob" at 4 P.M.  Back on the ship at 4:25 and after a lumpy tender crossing.  Kelly survived!!!

Back on the ship, we showered and headed down for our daily happy hour which luckily runs for two hours between 5-7 p.m. (This is when "Elite" status and higher receive complimentary beverages... just one of our perks)

We exited the elevator with plans to go to the Martini Bar but noticed a sign at the Club which was hosting a meet up of all Elite and higher guests... who knew! In we went and spotted Avis & George along with Bill & Noelene at one of the tables. We were quickly invite to join them and we spent the next couple hours trading cruise stories and life events. It was a lot of fun.

At 7 p.m. we all split up as Kelly and I headed to the show in the theater. It featured a singer named Jeroen Robben and he was good. Unfortunately the volume seems to be just shy of ear piercing so that was a distraction from an otherwise good performance. A common theme with all the shows we have seen so far.

The show finished up just before 8 p.m. and we then went to dinner in the Bistro that featured the La Petite Chef. We had been offered 50% off of the dinner but the only catch was it was late which we try not to do... but we wanted to try it and besides, it was "On Sale"!  This was a digital display that is presented on the white table top and coincides with the dishes being served. It was fun to watch and the food was excellent although I could have eaten more! 

A short seven second video of the salad being made....... enjoy! 

At the end of the video presentation the salad is served.

 

After dinner we walked around a bit but as it was late Sunday, all the onboard shops were close including the casino. So we headed back to the room to blog and get ready for bed. It was a very enjoyable day.

Tomorrow's plan is to tender in and take the shuttle into Cairns... look around & have lunch? Rain in the forecast.... arghh!

Step count 9,600