A lot of nothing

Saturday 16^th June 2012

Sea day.

Woke up feeling much better this morning. Went to Trivia after breakfast, bit serious this mob, and another wander around to see what else is on board. Pacific Pearl is a bigger ship than the others we’ve been on.  It was built for conditions in the Med, and doesn’t cope with the swell of the Southern Ocean as well as her sister ships. That’s according to some cruise staff  we spoke to yesterday. The Dawn and the Jewel and built to cut thru the swell, the Pearl rolls up and then shudders as it goes back down, making a tiny circular motion, just enough to wobble flabby bits when you're lying down! So I'm told!! 

The Captain made an announcement around midday to inform us of a change in our itinerary – nothing major he said. Just that we’re swapping 2 of our ports for different days! If they weren’t ‘fly-speck’ islands, I’d have thought that was a fairly major change!! Especially if you’d made plans for a private tour of some sort. Luckily, we haven’t made ANY plans. Except for DIY snorkelling in Lifou that we’ll walk to, the one little port that will still be the same day. So, it’s Noumea tomorrow, then Mare, Lifou, then Isle of Pines (I think).

Liar's Club at 3pm, then more trivia at 5pm, this time, less serious! But still didn't win.

I forgot to mention, the Captain is Italian! Upon hearing this, many passengers screamed something about ‘we’re all gunna die!!’ and were last seen running for the lifeboats! Ha, ha, I’m joking….. of course……  Bearing in mind though, this is barely 6 months after the Costa Concordia tragedy. No, really he’s a nice guy and very funny. His name is Captain Lorenzo Paoletti,  he’s from Genoa and his life at sea started as a deck hand.

Rock the Boat, don't Rock the Boat Baby!

Friday 15^th June, 2012

Sea day.

                                                                    Our cabin

Boarding last night went smoothly. We walked down the hill from Wynyard Station to the ship, not too bad, don’t think we’ll walk back up the hill, the flat path was ok. Threw our carry-on bags and coats into the cabin and headed downstairs to grab some dinner.  

                                                                  
It was after 11pm by the time the Pearl moved away from the pier, apparently a cargo vessel got our spot and left ahead of us!

As always, Sydney Harbour looked sparkling especially with all the lights on. The Sail Away party was a fairly quiet one as noise restrictions applied in Darling Harbour at that time of night, so it was a real surprise when we neared Mrs Macquarie’s Chair to hear many voices cheering us off! There were at least 10 people waving and cheering, so we all waved and cheered back.

We cleared the Heads by midnight and we could notice the swell which was running about 3 metres. It was also quite windy and getting cold. Back to the cabin, quickly unpacked and headed for bed. After we put our watches forward it was getting on for 2am!

Sleeping wasn’t that easy. The ship was bobbing around like a cork and one of the drawers in my bedside table decided to open when the ship went up the swell and slam shut on the downward run! Eventually we put a suitcase in front of it, and later on our cabin steward Joeffrey (yes that's how you spell it) got some tape and taped it shut. He’s a really nice guy, not sure where from, but he memorised our names very quickly.

We went and met some people from Facebook and agreed to meet up for a pre-dinner drink. Wandered round a bit, had lunch and headed back to the cabin for a nanna nap, hoping to catch up on what sleep we didn’t get last night. The swell hadn’t decreased at all and I was getting a bit over it, but after our sleep, I felt rotten and had to lay down again! Trevor went and got some seasick pills and I went back to bed. ($15 for 10 pills!! We'll BYO next time) No dinner for me, but at least I wasn’t sick. Didn’t feel like doing anything, so my book remained untouched. Trevor went and ate dinner and he said there was a woman at the buffet with her head in a sick bag! How grose!! She’s lucky I wasn’t there, I would have given her a serve – how inconsiderate!! The crew should have sent her packing! He brought me back a bread roll and I felt up to a walk, so went and got a cuppa – no facilities in the cabin for making your own.

I have a new respect for the guys on ‘Deadliest Catch’!!

Our first disappointment

Thursday June 14, 2012.

Our departure time has been put back today. We should be down in Sydney, preparing to board, but we are still at home. The East Coast low that is pumping out to sea has delayed the return of Pacific Pearl until 1.30pm, so we can't board till 7.30 tonight! Luckily, we are on a high deck and will be amongst the first to embark according to the 'priority' boarding schedule given to us yesterday. The last to board won't be till 9.30pm or so. Hopefully, the dining room will be open for dinner.

P&O were amazing in contacting us with the bad news. We both got a text message, followed shortly by a phone call to our home phone with a pre-recorded message, then the same voice message to both our mobiles. I don't think anyone has an excuse for not getting the message. Between us we got it 5 times!!

Off now to finish packing!