Good morning Cruisers...
So Uncle Les got off Coral yesterday morning. First on my own as a solo pax. It worked out ok as I met up with a few familiar faces, Julie/Rolf, Mic/Rosie and a few more, thank you my friends for your support and social interaction.
So morning of embarkation I roll my case down down the hill from Marriott Hotel to OPT @ 10.30am. 10 minutes later they open the priority lane, I show my vacc cert, verbally attest to negative RAT, show my ID, directed to medallion lady, then on to security. Everybody says I am first on, I kid you not I am in cabin by 10.55am. Super fast. All staff at the OPT great.
I had been on Coral before, doing Alaska and Panama Canal, so knew my way around the ship. Cabin C333 was fine, big balcony, tiny shower, but what's new?
I took Princess standard fare, no drink/wifi package and paid $2500 when I booked it 3 weeks ago. I got $100 military OBC, $100 speshul OBC from Princess cruise planner and got another $50 for missed ports. So the $250 OBC covered my booze. As mentioned elsewhere we got 20% of cruise fare paid back in FCC, so I got $500. Adding it all up my daily rate was about $175, fair for a solo I thought. Being Elite also got my mini bar and put in a couple of small bags of laundry. First time I ever disembarked a ship owing nothing, lol.
I had done all the speshul restaurants before, so I ate at the Bordeaux and Provence MDR's plus the Horizon Court. All good, some meals better than others, had some tough fish and steak, but not too bad. I had different table mates each night, but all good. Drink service good, just call the waiter over and zap the medallion. All staff I encountered were very good from Cabin Steward to Buffet/MDR staff. Senior staff were rarely seen. I did not go to the Cocktail party, had enough of those. Took no formal clothes, so ate in Buffet on the two formal nights, as I did not want to embarrass myself or others with my casual wear. Saw the two shows, Motor City and Bayou, seen them before, they have been running for years.
I did no shorex but as we spent 3 days in Melbourne due to weather, I went in on the 109 bus and looked at a few things. Penneshaw on KI, went ashore and wandered the town. We sure did have some rough seas and rain/winds on the cruise.
To be truthful it was strange travelling alone, would I do it again? Not sure, I was uncomfortable and a bit lonely at times.