Helen: We checked into our cruise ship yesterday. It's SO cool :) Admitedly we are the youngest people on board by about 30 years (we did spy one other backpacker couple in the check-in queue though) and the decor is late 70s/early 80s (lots of sparkles and shinyness, despite the fact that the ship is only 9 years old - probably deliberate to make the old dears feel at home). But, all the staff have been absolutely wonderful (as well they ought to be - we are being charged an 'optional' $11 a day/person for tips!). Nothing is too much trouble and no one has so much as batted an eye lid over C's out-of-the-ordinary dreads. Our room is ok too - not in the engine bay after all. We have an en-suite bathroom, two wardrobes and even two portholes, as well as our own flat screen TV and DVD player (which was on when we got to our room playing a welcome message - very Big Brother). That makes it about the most luxurious room we've stayed in all trip! There's a gym that opens at 6am where C will likely be spending most of his time, we've found one of the restaurants that doesn't have a formal dress code, there's dancing and music every night and three screenings of two films every night too. I'm not going to want to visit any of the places we stop at at this rate!
C even begrudingly admitted he thought it was pretty cool too. It's so convenient - we have the best hotel spot in the city! He was a bit upset though - we had to give htem our passports and credit card details - and all we got in return was a little bit of yellow paper as a receipt!
So, we're off at midnight tonight. Then two 'sea days' before we get to the Whitsundays where we hope to do some diving, then Cairns, then the Great Barrier Reef, then Darwin, Bali and Semarang before Singapore. Very excited :) Will try to post en route if we can get to internet cafes, but I think our time ashore will be pretty limited and internet on board is via satelite so v expensive.
H&Cxx
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