Day 99 Saturday 26th August 2017 At Sea Top of page
No Sunday 27th August 2017. Lost day as we cross the International Date line Top of page
Day 100 Monday 28th August 2017 At Sea Top of page
Day 101 Tuesday 29th August 2017 Auckland NZ Top of page
Kevin up at 4:30am after gaining the extra hour last night for sunrise at 5:30am.
Standard day at sea, Coffee, cards twice for Kevin and restful day for the not so young one and his wife.
Medivac to Raratonga at 8pm last night
Last night’s detour and Anne empowered today.
Kevin now playing cards twice a day, usual coffee with Tony and Julie in the morning and Anne drove to see the Pop Choir performance.
Not a great sunrise this morning.
Brunch today so had to eat in the pig pen.
Empowered Anne again this morning, Anne to church, on a Saturday as there is no Sunday this week
Getting cooler, decks deserted
Another hour back tonight, on NZ time and after Auckland an other two hours back to Sydney time
Brunch below, very upmarket pigpen from 10:30am to 1:30pm.
Last formal
Rough at times overnight and during the day, we had enough sidewards roll to move the wheelchair overnight and the plates and utensils moved by themselves upstairs in the pigpen this morning where there are no tablecloths (had light breakfast upstairs to leave room for the two celebration parties we have been invited to).
A number of things have broken during the day as trays and bottles slide off the bars and serving areas.
Party day today with a OBE party (Over Bloody Eighty) with one of Kevin’s card players at lunchtime and Ros and Ian’s 52 Wedding Anniversary celebration at 7:30pm.
Home (cabin feels like home) late for us at 9:40pm, a good but busy day had by all.
View from balcony
We had the roughest weather we have encountered on a cruise, it would be reasonable smooth then the ship would roll slowly and at the top of the roll things would start to slide, some of the things that happened were -
A friend slid 2 metres on a deck lounge hitting her head, thankfully OK.
Where Ross normally sits was where the wine and water from the table ended up, luckily Ross (and Helen, Anne, and Kevin) missed dinner last night (at Ros and Ian’s later dinner celebrations).
A few trays of entrees were lost in the kitchen.
Most table had glasses tipped over and plates lost from the serving stations.
Broken glasses at many of the bars.
Joel, our waiter said it was the first time in his 10 years he had seen an ice bucket go over.
Joel said it was a real mess in the kitchen with food even coming off the grill.
About on time arrival at 10am, we were off around 11am and caught the ferry right next to the ship to Devonport (no not Tasmania).
We spent a couple of hours at Devonport, Anne did her exercise by pushing the chair, mostly empty.
We had coffee and cake in a nice cafe, did some supermarket shopping (New World not Coles here).
Auckland from Devonport
Anne had her SCAN while Kevin walked into Auckland for an hour.
Open seating dinner tonight with some new arrivals at “our” table, they appreciated information about the ship and what to do.
Finally an Auckland Maori Cultural group performed.
Our new cabin steward has a different way of “folding” our pyjamas.
Clocks another hour back tonight, only one hour ahead of Sydney now
Day 102 Wednesday 30th August 2017 At Sea Top of page
Then the 12 minute ferry ride back into Auckland.
Next we walked through the “America’s Cup” marina before returning to the ship about 3pm.
Day 103 Thursday 31st August 2017 At Sea Top of page
Day 104 Friday 1st September 2017 At Sea Top of page
Day 105 Saturday 2nd September 2017 Sydney Top of page
Still a bit rough, but nowhere as bad as before Auckland. You can see from the map opposite that by mid morning we have turned west for Sydney but are heading (arrow) in the Melbourne direction to avoid the worst of the seas
Islands off the North Cape of New Zealand
Too windy for much of a walk as we head across the ditch.
Kevin up early for sunrise and website update down the back (sorry stern) of the ship at the bar (not open in case you were wondering).
A day of changing weather beautiful and sunny but cold till after lunch then we could see the storm to the north that the Captain was avoiding, see position map and swell maps below.
Midday view to the east
3pm view to the north
Sea Princess
Another amazing production show from our team of dancers who were specifically contracted for the World Cruise. Kevin watched in awe as he had trouble standing in these rough sea, they performed the most amazing dance moves he has seen on stage. They received a standing ovation for this there last show.
Kevin was up early after turning the clocks back for the last hour last night, now on Sydney time.
Took a few tries but finally captured a big wave in the pool.
A lot of lasts today, cards, coffee, full breakfast, dinner and goodbye to many new friends.
Last laundry back this lunch time. Total “Free” laundry worth $1374.50 and going home with clean clothes.
Culinary demonstration and galley tour, coffee and back to cabin to pack.
Final Dinner and traditional Baked Alaska desert and parade.
You can see from the map opposite how far south we have detoured to miss the storm and rough seas.
Captain says we will arrive on time in Sydney, picking up pilot at 5:30am
We were through the heads (first picture below) at 5:30am with the Carnival Spirit not far behind us
Click for Captains speech
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