Saturday, June 24

We've bitten the bullet and booked a cruise, in fact 2 cruises back to back. I spent several hours combing through the various offerings but there was nothing available which sparked my interest.  We thought 14 days was a reasonable length but it seems that 13 days is the new normal.  Fair enough but where to go?  We've done New Zealand to death and didn't want to head off to South-East Asia which would entail a long flight back from Singapore or wherever.

Anyway, we've found a cruise which leaves from Brisbane, incorporates several Pacific islands and then segues into a shorter cruise which includes a couple of days in Sydney.  It's not until later in the year but we decided we should get it booked in case there's a rush.  I'm counting the weeks.  The ship is the Quantum of the Seas, one of the bigger vessels in the business at the moment. There's a lot about it on Youtube and it should be quite an experience.

It's not like us to book so far in advance.  Circumstances change and we normally don't like to be locked in.  However, experts anticipate a rush as ships come back into service so it seemed sensible to secure what seems like a good deal.

I remember one winter Marilyn decided we needed a break. Checking back, it was 2012.  I rang the company we had dealt with in the past and said we wanted something immediate.  The only cruise on offer was sailing from Brisbane a couple of weeks hence.  We were lucky to get the last available cabin on the Pacific Dawn and it turned out to be in the bowels of the ship next to the Medical Centre.  It was tiny but had a porthole; there was a double bunk in the room, looking very rickety and I certainly didn't fancy sleeping up top.  Marilyn sweet-talked the steward and he agreed to bring in a folding bed each night and remove it during the day, so that we each  could sleep comfortably.  He received a generous tip for his trouble.

That was the cheapest cruise we ever did and also the only one from Brisbane.  I've never travelled with such an uncouth, loud and obnoxious group of party animals.  Clearly, most of the passengers were there to play up and get as drunk as possible.  I remember there was a large group celebrating a wedding which was held on a beach in Vanuatu, or somewhere.  Let's hope this cruise later in the year will be a bit more civilised.