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| The special cake complete with amazing animals. |
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| A "Bloody Legend" - or two... |
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| Ros and Dominic - now with a one piece new tie |
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| The always happy Melldon |
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| Who looks most like a chef? |
Although I’ll probably do a wrap up post, this will be the last but one whilst on the ship – assuming I can get internet access, as it does tend to vary and the previous post was uploaded some time after writing it.
Most people seem to have started thinking about packing already and are busy dumping old clothes, old shoes, unwanted gifts, silly purchases and so on. With our Air NZ weight limit of 23kg and hearing that other airlines are far more generous, it may be an opportune time to consider which airline to use next year. We have been fiercely loyal to Air New Zealand over the last 25 years or so, particularly when British Airways stopped flying to Auckland, but it is a very competitive market and if they think a 23kg limit is OK, when others don’t, then they risk losing the customers, no matter how good the cabin staff.
Well the nights don’t get any better in terms of sleeping. Waking at 1:10am and finding myself still awake at 3:30, I quietly dressed and tip-toed out of the cabin. Thankfully, the buffet now closes at midnight, but the drinks are still available so I sat out on deck 14, overlooking the pools, revelling in the pleasant air and happily watching the cleaning staff going about their business, whilst sipping a drink of hot lemon and honey.
What I really felt like was just kicking a football around, so I wandered up to deck 15 and the sports court. Thomas, the popular head buffet chef, was getting in a bit of exercise with a basketball, before his early morning shift and the last thing he expected was a ghostly white face appearing at 4am! When he’d stopped shaking, we did indeed kick a ball around, but as stated before, a basketball is tough on the feet and ankles, so I didn’t last too long before I headed back for another drink! On the way out again, I ended up chatting to Joe for an hour or so before sneaking back to bed as the sun rose at about 5:35, by which time the early brigade had already started heading to the buffet. That opens at 5:30.
By 8am, I was wide awake again and with a returned cough, I elected to skip the quiz. A late morning coffee was taken to the final Dawn Nomad’s lunch, preceded by a photo-shoot. A nice chicken curry for me whilst some others had what was billed as fish, chips and mushy peas. They were of course, mashed peas, again… The chef’s surprise this time was a stunning chocolate cake, decorated with marzipan animals. My pic won’t do it justice.
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| Paula with Marvin |
Garry presented Ros with a well-deserved “Bloody Legend Award”.
On to the Vista at 2:30pm for a second Blues show by Matt “Bleeding Gums” Smithies, where once again he demonstrated his versatility, by playing the flute in addition to the guitars and sax. For us, not quite as enjoyable as the first concert (the pace of music chosen needed to be a bit more varied).
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| The Three Stooges - Alex, Nando and Marcus |
Back to the vista for the afternoon trivia run by Tom and I think our worst ever score – 6! The winners got 8.
Formal night again and a special souvenir menu. My favourite of 2011, Veal Prince Orloff, wasn’t quite as good as the earlier version though.
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| Shenanigans in a glass lift |
On what was one of the busiest entertainment days of the cruise, it concluded with a massive balloon drop and dance party in the atrium and in a great touch, the accommodation staff (who do not normally have public deck privileges) were invited to join in. We were happy to have a pic taken with our fantastic room steward, Marvin. So good to see cabin stewards, cleaners and even the waiters and assistant waiters swelling the numbers. They had a real ball. Somehow or other, Marcus, Alex and Nando (let’s just call them the Three Stooges) had commandeered one of the glass lifts in the atrium and were happily riding between floors 5 and 8 and back again, dancing – or clowning around. When they stopped at 6, we jammed the door open for a photo opportunity and then found ourselves dragged into the mayhem… Up and down we went until we were joined by a waiter (I think he was a waiter!) who also put on his own dance show. Quite a mad evening and overall, a long, mad, enjoyable day, but my eyes were tired, very tired… Bed at 11:45 and another 1hr forward for the clocks. I think that now puts us on Sydney time.
Wednesday October 9th
Despite yesterday’s odd day, we were both awake at 2am – again. No football this time and eventually back to sleep until 9am. Talking to others, it appears that there are a lot more of us not sleeping too well on these long sea day runs so stories of people surfacing about noon, are not at all unusual.
We opted for the morning trivia rather than breakfast and made the tie-breaker along with several other teams. Somehow or other, our (winning!) entry was overlooked and the prizes awarded to another team! Afterwards we sent Julia down to query it and the mistake was admitted, so she returned with our prizes – the favoured key-ring torches. We are so glad they weren’t the usual lanyards or fridge magnets.
Coffee and chatting to Ros (the other Ros, Dominic’s wife) told me she had some video of last night’s lift display. I gather that Garry has a load too. Whilst Paula opted for the theatre and a movie, I took up the day’s Lotus Spa $99 massage special, with tiny Maria, for the last time and our final ship board expense/extravagance. Our overall on board bill after using up the on board credit was under $1,000, so a modest extra visa bill really. One day, I’ll work out exactly what our costs are per day. You might be surprised just how economical it all is, considering what is included in the cruise price.
As is often the case on sea days, I struggled to get an internet connection and after several attempts, gave up.
After the 4:15 quiz, we ambled the 50 metres to Jammers for our final Dawn Nomads get together. Lots of hugs, hand shaking, address swapping and a well-deserved, framed, “Bloody Legend” award to Cynthia from customer services, who has been Ros’s Princess contact throughout. It is sensible of Princess to recognise the Cruise Critic group in the way it does, as it is usually a win for both sides.
We opted for the buffet with M & M as others were originally heading for the steakhouse, but I am not sure that they did eventually. A light meal with just soup, a roll and some cheese for me. After a decent coffee down in the atrium, we headed back to the cabin for a blitz, not so much on packing, as on dumping unwanted paperwork and packaging, conscious of the rigid 7kg carry-on bag limit and the 23kg checked in limit for us.
Princess kindly gifted us a back-pack each; a leather wallet and leather luggage tag each; a thick, bound, photograph of the ship and the passenger group photograph. All very nice in theory, but in practice, the extra weight is a bit of a hindrance. Easier if the ship docks at your home port of course.
So, with bed at 11:20pm, just one more sea day to go - and it looks to be an interesting one.
PS: This post and anything after it was loaded after we returned home…
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