little britain

I’ve seen Spectre’s Cabaret a dozen times… first time with a lady Spectre! And a Scottish lady Spectre too!

The best thing about being overnight in port is that you get to see it again next day! Tribute to the 13,000 women and 2,000 children who were transported between 1803 and 1853 Lots of statues along the waterfront Classic architecture Salamanca - formerly warehouses now funky restaurants ( mount Wellington behind)

Hobart, Tasmania We got a car rental from Hertz. Their office is about 20 mins walk from the ship dock in the centre of town. It was only £48 to hire the car for the day! And only £18 to fill it up with fuel ⛽️ before returning it. We drove 250km north and then south. Beautiful rolling hills, fields full of sheep, mellow yellow brick houses… I can’t quite put my finger on what it reminds me of! As we were docked overnight we of course went out for dinner .. why wouldn’t you? There is a fabulous selection of quality restaurants; easily accessible within 20 minutes walk; a vast selection of locally made wines and gins, the quality and the prices were amazingly cheap!! We love Tasmania!

Docs say we arrive at 10. Meeting for our shore ex (ships winery tour) is 10.30

So you don’t even use your free casino 🎰 $? If you don’t use it they will take away the perk!

Such a shame to see that people have defaced the elevator artwork.

I seem to recall a rule that it cannot be opened when off WA which is 50% of the landmass!!!

I don’t think they got the wine delivery 🚚 this week There is no St Augustus Shiraz There is no Ponting Rianna rose There is no Colombo rose They did waive the extra $1 charge and give us WA in lieu For the gamblers the roulette tables only had one zero. DH turned our $8 free spins 🎰 into $101 !! The Chinese dress up on formal night.. some fantastic dresses 👗

Today’s Fish n Ships pudding was a little chocolate mousse thing - no charge.

A bit choppy this morning as we head south. Top tier confirmed just over 1000 C&A on board so a lot of new cruisers. There are only 11 pinnacles Demographic - a lot and I mean a lot of Chinese/ oriental guests. The shops seem to be stocked with a far higher quality of goods - Marc Jacob’s handbags 👜, a very big selection of Kate Spades; and of course the 2nd hand LVs The Omega watch shop looked like it already was selling and the casino was quite busy at 11am.

Ovation: captain Espín resumed duties yesterday 21.1.24 He has just been to Miami and been on Icon. He confirmed Discovery class ( about Voyager size) and he said that Icon and Oasis would never sail from Australia 🇦🇺

Yes the app shows complimentary for; Fish and chips chicken fingers and chips Fried shrimp and chips Crispy fish sandwich treat yourself: Fried lobster tail and chips $12 desert of the day.. no cost showing but as its under the “treat yourself” column I guess there is! I’ll look tomorrow

Mariano, Lúe in CK and JJ in the lounge. Sorry to say that it was a disappointing first night in CK despite it being fillet night (which was delicious). Service was slow. The wine list was very lacking compared to the MDR wine list on Brilliance! No Fifth Leg! They didn’t have the Columbo French rose and when I asked for Whispering Angel I was told it was an extra $1 as it was $16… whereas I drank it quite frequently for free on Brilliance at $15 🤷‍♀️ Other waiters were overheard telling their tables that it wasn’t burrata as the starter, but mozzarella… our waiter didn’t tell us, and an over chilled unappetising slab of mozzarella appeared. Happy to see that Vintage’s does stock the Pontings range of wines. Will stock up there before dinner tomorrow!

I believe so. We have a regular balcony and there is kettle, tea and sachets of coffee (which you don’t get from Southampton!)

Another amazingly easy check in… 14 minutes from cab 🚕 to cabin! Sydney really has this down to a fine art. I was on this ship for her maiden sailing to Rotterdam, and then again for the first leg of her repo to Asia. I love this style of ship. It’ll be good to become reacquainted with her again. One change I’ve noticed is a Fish n Ships by the pool area which was not there before JJ is in the Suite lounge. Only 11 🍍 on board so we have full access to CK 👏 It is the last week of Australian school holidays so there are around 1100 kids on board.

Tap Factory was good apart from the contortion guy who made me feel sick 🤢- thank goodness he has gone!

Round #2

No cruise ship in today! Showing the location of OPT ( modern building) in relation to Bridge taken from Opera House

That’s great! Balmain for lunch and Manly for dinner today!

Ovation on Sunday

And it’s all over! Spectacular sail in - spot the balcony railing! That’s how close you get!

Last night in the dining room… never seen this before… a guest taking the microphone 🎤 and saying thank you on behalf of the passengers And then, everyone on their feet to dance! I’ll say it again, a very different fun vibe.

Was on her for 25 days in Sept/Oct She is tired, tired, tired! I dread to think how old the sofa in my cabin was; and the chairs especially in the Colony Club are threadbare. That said, she has a lovely flow, and the staff are great. The RCI shows are a little dated Meals in MDR were ok, I didn’t starve! Yes there is a curry option every night and these are generally good The suite lounge was always empty when I passed.

Parade of Flags was well attended followed by a green and gold balloon drop!

It means in Australian waters you can’t go up to guest services and pay your account off in cash. You have to wait till international waters. You can’t go and exchange US$ for A$ at GS until international waters Of course the casino 🎰 is only upon in international waters so that’s ok We have not seen another person tip for drinks. We appear to be the only ones and the crew seem somewhat surprised to receive it. The app says this: