All Aboard!
After having such a spectacular time last year onboard our Rock the Boat cruise, Jude and I decided the only sensible thing to do was to back up and book again this year.
Jude’s very lovely sister-in-law, Steph, kindly drove us down to Manly this afternoon, where we boarded the Manly ferry, bound for Circular Quay. We spotted our Carnival cruise liner a mile off and may have even let out a squeal or two of excitement at the prospect of imminently climbing aboard.
Jude and I are both self-confessed chronic over-packers so it was a good cardio workout hauling our bags around to the passenger terminal. Once again, we were dazzled by the sheer number of staff members (aka as “FUN GUIDES”) who were nothing short of diligent in their efforts to not lose a single passenger between the kerbside and the boat. At every twist and turn, passengers were met by a friendly uniformed guide to point them up the escalator or steer them around a corner.
We gathered obediently at Muster Point B and were met by a petite, life-jacketed staff member, her head barely visible above the thick collar of her padded safety vest. We’d be receiving a safety briefing as soon as more people arrived. Finally, when a substantial crowd had gathered, our little safety officer, took her life-jacket off, popped it back over her head, did up the buckle and declared loudly: “so that’s how you put it on”. The guy behind us yelled: “ Is that it?”, to which she said: “Yep.” Glad we sorted that out.
After a quick photo with a guy in a koala suit, we braved peak hour at the lifts and made our way to our cabin, which, much to our delight, has a balcony.
As our in-room tv kept reminding us, this was ‘no ordinary hotel, it was a floating hotel, in the middle of the ocean’ (well we weren’t off the dock yet, but hey…) We definitely needed to spend some time exploring the vessel and getting our bearings (which is easier said than done). We met our ‘State Room Attendant”, who introduced himself as Wayan. He handed us his business card accompanied by the generous offer to call him “anytime” if ever we get lost or need help with anything. That card could come in handy.
As we cruised out past the heads, Sydney Harbour was gleaming. Jude put in a call to her brother Ian, to let him know we’d be chugging past any minute now and would give him a wave. He snapped a picture of us passing Manly Beach.
Our ship is massive and it was fun to go on our own self-guided tour, checking out all that was on offer. We could enjoy endless hours of fun with a plethora of activities to choose from. There’s everything from mini golf and basketball to table tennis, a 97m running track (you’d think they would have squeezed in another 3 metres), foosball and of course, being the rock cruise, live music absolutely everywhere. The big shows will all be played up on the pool deck (which is really now just a deck, on account of the pool being drained and covered with seating) so there’s only one tiny little pool for all the thousands of passengers to fight over. Could be interesting. There’s a teeny weeny spa too, which we may need to use at 5am just so we can have a turn.
On our ship last year, the buffet was just one big open room with different stations offering various tasty options but this year there’s a labyrinth of food outlets - like a Westfield food court on steroids - serving every cuisine known to man, we are spoilt for choice.
Tonight, we donned our required “cruise casual” attire and, after a delicious dinner, enjoyed a fantastic Fleetwood Mac cover band. The guitarist, who played that thing like an absolute boss - looked like any unassuming average old bloke; scoring low on the rockstar vibes chart. Jude suggested he looked like someone you might ask for advice in Bunnings. Maybe that’s his day job.
We managed to snag spots in the front row for Dragon, who brought the house down, turning us into a giant.floating pub choir; the whole ship singing with unified gusto….“Take me to the April sun in Cuba, whoa-oh-oh…”
