We Made It To Sydney And Then....

Wednesday, December 20th, 2017


The flights on Delta were pleasantly uneventful; all the luggage made it; we're ready to enjoy the day and then...


Our plan was to take the cruise organized transportation from the airport to the ship (Oceania Regatta - 650 passengers - almost as many crew); drop off the big luggage; and then our wonderful Australian friends were to pick us up at the dock @ 10 AM and we'd spend some time with them and then back to the ship @ 3:00 PM to check in.


We get on the bus (with only about another dozen people that had been on our flight) and we're informed that we're going to have a tour of Sydney and plan to be back at the ship @ 1:00 PM - - DING DING DING - Warning, Will Smith - THIS IS NOT OUR PLAN...   Luckily I had a phone number to call our friends and cancel our wonderful day together - - GRRRR.


Now you have a group of people who have been flying for a day and a half - are tired, hungry, and ready to truly start their vacations driving around the lovely city of Sydney (which we've had the pleasure of touring a few years ago for multiple days).  The tour was very nice, but unnecessary (except for the fact that we can't get into our cabins until 2:00 PM or so, therefore, keeping us out of the way.)


Finally, we get to the ship and park what seemed to be a half mile away and need to drag all our bags to the 'drop off' point.  Very poor planning. 


We get into the 'terminal' and start the check in procedure - do you think someone could say "keep your passports out the whole time - we'll be asking for them again and again (and again)"?   But no - do you get my drift that on top of being tired, etc, I'm not pissed off at inefficiency?


Finally get on the ship, are directed to the comon areas, but we sneak into our cabin - drop off our carry-ons, change into summer clothes (which were in said carry-ons), and proceed to the buffet lunch.  Of course, this is delicious, the zillion servers are asking our names (and proceed to call us those names each time we see them...) - all is getting better. 


Now it's after 2:00 PM and we're allowed into our cabins to unpack.  Jeff takes his over-due nap while I get us organized - read that as I'm starting to feel SO much better as we settle in!  Finally, I get to take a shower and get ready for the mandatory lifeboat drill.


The drill starts a bit late - a sign of things to come - but other than the PA system not working very well, all is looking okay.  It's now a little after 5:30 PM and we find out that there is truly a problem with the PA system and we won't be leaving port at 6:00 PM as planned, because you can't sail with this system not working at 100%.  (This makes sense, so we go with the flow).


We didn't wish to get 'dressed' for dinner in the dining room, so we go back to the buffet (poor us) and I enjoyed grilled lobster, shrimp and escargot  -that we fabulous.  Of course, I'm so tired, I think they could have served dog food and I would have been happy, but it was so delicious!


Finally, back to the cabin (but I don't want to actually go to sleep yet, because it's too early and I'll be up at 2:00 AM going crazy...).  So we start watching a favorite film of mine - The Adventures of Priscilla - Queen of the Desert.  Jeff had never seen it and truly was enjoying it.  About half way through, the jet lag finally won out and it was lights out.  Falling asleep was not an issue and our crazy first day in Australia was over.


Now - we were supposed to leave the dock at 6:00 PM, but that was postponed as they were still fixing the PA system.  (Said repair has to be signed off by the Australian Government before we can depart.  Glad for some rules.) 


Thursday, December 21st, 2017


We ended up leaving at 4:00 AM Thursday morning and are at sea for the day traveling to Brisbane (to spend an unknown amount of time there Friday since they're trying to make up the travel time we missed by having to sit at the dock for 10 extra hours Wednesday).


We've played some cards (Spite and Malice is our game of choice - my Grandma Helen taught it to me as a kid and it was the first game I taught Jeff when we were dating!); have been enjoying more food (it's always "food o'clock" on a ship); getting to know some of our fellow-travelers and the amazing staff on the ship.  We have good wi-fi so I'm able to be as up-to-date as I'd like and am currently using one of their computers to post this (so much easier than trying to type on a tiny keyboard on a phone or iPad).


Life is good - love is better -


Let the fun adventures continue...