We’re still not sleeping late – but we’re getting better and it’s at least not 4:30am when we wake up. We make it until 6 or so – but that still means we have 4 hours before we even have to check out. So, after coffee we head out to Hyde Park for a little morning walk. It’s beautiful, and not so awfully hot yet, which makes our morning exercise quite enjoyable.
We stop for a coffee at a little place on the street, then make our way back to the hotel to organize, pack and head to the ship.
All goes according to plan, we’re checked out a little before 10 and in a cab fairly quickly. The cabbie is hysterical – a one man comedy act. And we spend the time sitting in traffic laughing at his jokes and then talking about the cruise and how he likes to fish. He deposits us at the pier around 10:30 and we are set. We had thought about dropping our bags and going somewhere to watch the Superbowl, but then figured, why? We don’t necessarily care, and there’s no need to go to some pub and spend money on food and drink when we can get on the ship and get all that for free. Plus, we’re hoping (against hope) that maybe they’ll have it on the ship.
We’re lined up and ready to go inside, but the pier coordinators tell us it will be a while – one gal said half an hour to 45 minutes, the other said an hour. They suggest we “go away” and come back later. Nah, we’ll stay here in line. We’ve got no where to go, nothing to do and we’d prefer to be hanging out aboard or in the waiting area rather than running around a scorching hot Sydney.
Eventually they begin to prioritize the boarding – asking for our cabin numbers. We’ve managed to snag an upgrade to a 2 bedroom family suite, so we’re one of the the first to board. We get checked in without an issue – as opposed to some other guests next to us. Have no idea what was going on with them. Then we go upstairs to wait to go through customs and who do we see, but Melany, our butler from when we were on the Star in Norway. We love Melany. Hugs and kisses and catching up, then she escorts us onto the ship and up to Cagney’s for our lunch in the lounge. Our first swordfish burger of the cruise. Still as good as ever – actually even better – I don’t remember the sesame seed crust which is fantastic. We’re happy campers.
We hang out in the dining room long enough to get settled, but it’s becoming crazy busy, so we head off to find our cabin, which we think Melany said was ready – but she’s back pierside, so we just go explore ourselves. The hallway doors are closed, but we sneak in, explore the room, dump our backpacks and take pictures.
It’s a great suite. Lots of room in the living area and the master bathroom is amazing. Huge, with picture windows looking out over the jacuzzi tub and in the shower. Plus there’s the 2nd bedroom (with bath) which we are calling the media room. We’re setting it up with the computer so we can watch our movies when we get bored on sea days (which we’ll have a lot more than we planned for on this particular sailing – because of the itinerary change due to the malfunctioning azipods).
Exploration of the cabin finished, we head back out to wander around the ship. A couple of the bar servers are still here from Norway, but none of our bartenders. Joseph, our butler, was here, but we didn’t know him in June, so he’s now our fast friend. And we’ll make more as the cruise goes on – certainly.
We wander about, checking on the Superbowl progress via updates from my sister and with a guy who has a play by play on his phone. Which only irritates us because the Falcons have blown their lead and then end up losing the darn game in OT. Just like the stupid election! Sigh.
Boat drill accomplished, we watch the sail out from Sydney Harbor from the dining room and spend a nice first night aboard.
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