Now I don’t know about you but when I think of pleasure cruises, I get this enormous sense of impending doom – I mean think about all the famous passenger ships that immediately spring to mind – the Titanic – it sank, everyone died (apart from Rose), the Poseidon – it sank, everyone died (ok it was fictional but you get the point), so I began to wonder why on earth we’d signed up to cruise from Auckland to Brisbane in winter…the possibilities for disaster were endless! This was also not helped by Michelle remembering after we booked that actually she gets seasick (this is the girl that feels ill whilst we are still in port!) and Melody proceeded to run through a series of ‘what would you do if’ scenarios that included ‘falling overboard into shark infested waters’ and ‘would you allow Colin to give up his place on the lifeboat for you if we were sinking?’!!
However, we bravely got on board during a beautiful sunny afternoon and kept in focus that at the end of four days we would have the excitement of staying with a very pregnant Salini and Brad in Brisbane!
Our home for the next four days!
I tried to get into the spirit of things with some nautical stripes!
The whole boarding process took some time, providing ample opportunity for Mel to question the general class of people getting on board and find them a bit wanting, but we were reassured when the first major activity that we had to take part in was Muster Practice, which involved everyone getting their life jackets and assembling at appropriate parts of the boat…
I'm not sure we took the entire process seriously...
Getting told off for talking....
Getting told off for talking....
However it did occur to me as we were doing the drill that it hardly seemed the most sensible thing in the world for us to have to go all the way down to our rooms to get our life jackets (five floors) and then return back to the top of the boat where the lifeboats actually were...in a state of emergency surely you would remain as close to the escape boats as possible! And I fully agreed with the women and children first rule... so I assured myself that there were enough lifeboats on board, dutifully read the danger warning signs, and then felt I could enjoy the rest of the cruise!
I picked out a lifeboat to aim for!
Just in case someone fell overboard and didn't get chopped up by the propellers! Also note that it contains a handy hint of where to return me to in case of amnesia (like in the film!!)
It was a gorgeous evening as we sailed out of Auckland and we watched the sunset over the skyline and realised that boats can get rather windy....
Auckland's (semi)famous skyline
A selection of windswept travellers
Enjoying the sunset and the 'sail away'drinks
Ahhhh..how romantic
Look who we found on board! (No boys, those cocktails are actually very manly!)
After the first night's adjustment to sea life, we quickly realised that sadly at times being on this kind of cruise was reminiscent of the longest Channel Ferry crossing to France you will ever go on... and could descend into a floating Butlins.... We also found it slightly off putting to be woken up on the first morning by a voice coming over the tannoy announcing 'MAN OVERBOARD' and only then realising that they had also included the word 'DRILL' at the end of it! Combined with further announcements that we were heading directly for a very large storm (and believe me, if I learned nothing else it was that very big waves, rocking boats and wearing high heels whilst walking downstairs was not a good combination!), I began to wonder if this was going to feel like the longest 4 days of my life...
However, we managed to find ways to entertain ourselves...
Relaxing on deck...
Playing deck games (weather permitting)
Having a boogie...
No Maria, that is not how to make a "c"
Dressing for dinner...
Doing martini tasting....
And watching Davina get robbed in the final of Pacific Sun Popstars by an Elvis impersonator...
She was our favourite...
Davina also managed to find some of the on board 'talent'...
oooh...sailor!!
But we managed to survive the weather, the company and the cabin fever and docked safely in Australia!
Off the boat!
I'm not sure we'll be seeing this boat again!
Getting to Brisbane at last was great - and it was brilliant to see Brad and Salini (who was literally due to give birth at any moment). Michelle proved that her motion sickness really is all in her mind as she proceeded to feel sea sick for at least another 2 days, in spite of the fact that we were on dry land, Colin survived being interrogated by Hayley ('who are your 5 favourite bands - GO') and being beaten in endless games of Monopoly Deal, and we successfully helped Salini purchase a designer leather nappy bag!! We also took a day trip out to the Gold Coast, where it was sunny, but sadly still windy!
Brad refused to stand in the water so that our hair could blow the right way!
We also enjoyed afternoon tea at the Gold Coast's swankiest hotel... the Versace!
There was also just enough time to catch up with the lovely Sarah and Danny, and for a final time with Hayley before she returns to the UK before we headed back to Auckland... ona very quick plane!!!
Mums to be...
But we managed to survive the weather, the company and the cabin fever and docked safely in Australia!
ReplyDeletehaha i managed to survive ALL but the company!!! haha
nice pictures:)