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Photo Review of Solstice November 11, 2017 New Zealand & Australia Cruise


cruise kitty
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Day 14, Cruising the Sounds

 

Well, we awoke to another glorious day! Captain Tasos joked in his daily update that he had custom ordered this weather for us... I had planned out my "sounds outfit", beanie hat, gloves, scarf, etc., definitely not needed, the day grew warmer as it went on & I ended up my yoga shorts & tank top.

 

The first sound is Dusky sound, followed by Doubtful Sound, & then finally the spectacular Milford Sound. We decided to forgo the helicopter pad for Milford Sound when we saw how packed it was.

 

Mickey, the wonderful destination expert narrated as we travel through the Sounds, unfortunately we missed a great deal of his commentary at first because the prime location for viewing (outside, forward of the gym) was playing loud music instead of his commentary, however, it was worth it for the view & lack of crowds.

 

There was a fun 'horn battle' with a princess ship, I have a video but am not sure how to post it now that the site that shall not be named (PB, you know who you are) started their extortion level fee scheme. My shutterfly account does not support videos, so sorry about that.

 

Entering Milford sound, we finally saw penguins as they dove from the shoreline into the sea!

 

When we reached the end of Milford Sound near the airstrip, we decided to retire to our balcony & enjoy the view & sail out with some wine & our feet propped up on the rail, so relaxing as Captain Tasos spun us in donuts so we had a 360 view... & on the way out we watched for more penguins but didn't spot any.

 

This trip we used our balcony more than we ever did before.

 

We tried Silk Harvest that night, it was just ok... not my favorite type of food.

 

That night the casino was finally open & we won back some of our OBC. We were lucky enough to use only our OBC for gambling on this trip & ended up winning back our $400 OBC plus another $150 or so... which put me in a very good mood!

 

Day 14 & 15 were also sea days, we passed the time reading during the day, & enjoyed the clock setbacks of an extra hour each night.

 

Mickey's lectures on Melbourne were excellent & there was a full house as usual.

 

The crew was very excited about our next port of Melbourne, as it has a big casino many of them wanted to visit.

 

Screen shot of our location:

 

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Snow on the mountains:

 

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A princess cruise ship:

 

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One of many waterfalls along the way:

 

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cruise kitty I have been enjoying you review so much! Weren’t the fjords beautiful! Even my hubby who is always on the enjoyed the beauty & serenity (and ship donut) of that particular day. Thank you so much for taking the time to share & see you on the other board!

 

 

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cruise kitty I have been enjoying you review so much! Weren’t the fjords beautiful! Even my hubby who is always on the enjoyed the beauty & serenity (and ship donut) of that particular day. Thank you so much for taking the time to share & see you on the other board!

 

 

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Thank you! & yes I'll see you on the Ireland board! :D

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Thanks Debbie for the wonderful review and photos of our cruise, it really was a great trip and this is a terrific way to relive it. Sorry we didn't get the chance to meet up with you and Steve on board, but hopefully somewhere down the track we will.

Cheers,

Scotty & Clark

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Thanks Debbie for the wonderful review and photos of our cruise, it really was a great trip and this is a terrific way to relive it. Sorry we didn't get the chance to meet up with you and Steve on board, but hopefully somewhere down the track we will.

Cheers,

Scotty & Clark

 

Thanks guys! It was a wonderful cruise, & I'm sorry we missed out on meeting you, we never did receive notification of the when/where of the Cruise Critic party, so we missed out on meeting most of our great roll call members.

 

Why don't you join us on next year's Ireland & Iceland cruise? :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

Day 16: Melbourne, Australia

 

We had already undergone a face to face inspection with Australian Immigration on one of our sea days, so today was pretty simple as far as exiting the ship, except of course, a few folks had not shown up for their appointment, & we were delayed just a bit.

 

No escort off today, everyone lined up & waited till the ship was cleared.

 

The docking area in Melbourne is big & industrial, it's interesting that Melbourne is built around its river, rather than the sea. Where we live, people want to live along the beachfront, so this was a bit odd to me.

 

We exited the ship, and passed up the mobs of people waiting for the shuttle buses & also waiting in long lines to buy their Myki cards, which must be used to access the wonderful public transport system. We walked over to a convenience store across from the nearest tram stop, by this time, even though we thought we had dressed appropriately, we both felt sick. It was nearly 85 degrees & it was only around 10, but the humidity levels were something I've never experienced before. We don't really have humidity at home, & we simply weren't prepared for this.

 

We went back to the ship, both put on linen shorts, thin, ventilated long sleeved shirts & big broad brimmed hats. Steve also wore his cooling neck wrap, I really wish I'd packed mine, we ended up trading off wearing his thoughout the day, soaking it whenever we could, but the heat, which hit in the mid 90's & the building humidity took a toll on us that day.

 

Melbourne has some truly beautiful parts, the river walks, great restaurants, architecture, & wonderful, lush public parks & gardens.

 

Our first stop was the big Queen Victoria Market, all decked out for Christmas:

 

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We bought cheeses, which had to be eaten immediately or they would have been ruined in this heat, Steve was up to the job:

 

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Kangaroo meat, anyone?

 

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We walked over to a big shopping arcade with a famous tea house, & had a great lunch at a sidewalk cafe in a cute little alley way, unfortunately we lost our shade part way through our meal, we should have asked to move inside, as I think that hour baking in the heat was my undoing.

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Day 16, Melbourne, cont.

 

We walked through a bit of the botanical gardens, & government houses areas, on our way to look for the War Memorial, we drank gallons of water on the way, & Steve even stood in sprinklers to try & cool off, the interesting thing is that we were surrounded by people in business suits looking perfectly comfortable, I guess that people who live in such climate grow acclimated....

 

Steve, wetting down, & giving his hat a good soaking in a helpful sprinkler:

 

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The following is cut & pasted from wikipedia, sorry guys:

 

The Shrine of Remembrance is a war memorial in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in Kings Domain on St Kilda Road. It was built to honour the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I, but is now a memorial to all Australians who have served in war. It is a site of annual observances of ANZAC Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November) and is one of the largest war memorials in Australia.

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The light from the skylight is designed to shine directly on the biblical quote set in the floor at 11am on November 11th, as a tribute for those that made the ultimate sacrifice.

 

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I have to say, I've seen quite a few War Memorials throughout the world, & this is one of the most stunning & appropriate, well worth the time & effort to get there. As we were leaving, the bus loads from the cruise tours were showing up, we were grateful to have experienced it in the peace & quiet that such a place deserves.

 

After this, we took the shuttle bus back to the ship, Steve was doing ok, but I was literally sick to my stomach with the heat. I was worried that I was coming down with the dreaded Noro, but a cold shower & a soak in the pool fixed everything. Later we sat at the Sunset Bar with a pitcher of Sangria which also helped quite a bit!

 

We ate dinner in the buffet that night, where a huge bbq was laid out, all the exterior doors to the outside deck were sealed shut to prevent flies from entering... Melbourne had the biggest & most flies that I've ever seen. So far, Australia was a very, very different place from New Zealand.

 

Decided to head to be early so as to be more prepared for our second day in Melbourne. A few glasses of wine, a little tv, & I was out pretty early.

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Day 17, Melbourne

 

We woke up early, had a very light breakfast, & headed out again. The weather was just as hot & humid, but I was better prepared, & started drinking water first thing.

 

We walked all along the river on both shores, Melbourne distantly reminded me of Chicago with its newly renovated river walk & restaurants, a city we both love (but visit when it's cool weather)

 

After a couple of hours we stopped to have a light lunch & enjoy a local beer, followed by a short river cruise.

 

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More walks through the park areas:

 

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Day 17, cont.

 

We visited the magnificent St. Pauls Cathedral, entry is free, but we paid a few which gave us a license to take photos.

 

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memorial to Antarctic Explorers:

 

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a little more Melbourne architecture:

 

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We hit up a wine shop, bought a bottle for the next day, another sea day, (yea!) much needed after these two sweltering days.

 

If I had to do it again, I would have gone back to the ship midday on day one, & then gone back out that night... I put the onus on ourselves for not enjoying Melbourne more, I'm thinking that anyone living somewhere that normally has humidity & heat would nave been perfectly fine & not such a wimp, but that's just how it was for us. Melbourne was beautiful, but it's also a big city with its back to the ocean, & therefore no ocean breezes to cool things off, just not what we were expecting.

 

We ate another excellent dinner in Tuscan that night, & played a little in the casino where we won a bit again (yea!) Ended up back in Cellar Masters with the lovely Maria, who kept us supplied with our favorite wine & beer, & headed to bed by 11, as we could sleep in the next day if we chose.

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Day 18, at sea,

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

After a restful night of sleep & recovery, we ate a big breakfast on back of the ship as we sailed towards Sydney, I believe I had poached eggs with hollandaise & waffles! Steve staked out a lounge chair in the solarium & spent most of the days napping, reading & sitting in the jacuzzi, while I sat in a shady spot outside, reading my kindle, & studying my little binder with its notes on Sydney.

 

Lots of fun activities that day, if you were so inclined, with the best being the officer vs. guests pool volleyball game, great fun as all the officers put on a good show.

 

There was also a poolside silent disco to raise money for the World Wildlife Foundation.

 

I visited the future cruise desk, & reserved for next year's Ireland, Iceland, & Scotland cruise, we'll bookend it with with hiking in Ireland & Scotland, so should be a great time. Decided to go back to Aqua class to have the freedom to eat dinner at whatever times we pleased.

 

We were scheduled to dine in Murano that night, once again with the annoying 6pm time... apparently if you have prepurchased a dining package you are limited to two timeslots in Murano, 6 or 8... this is designed to allow last minute walk up guests the prime time slots, very annoying, but the two restaurants were packed every night. We decided to eat in Sushi on Five again instead, so we didn't have to cut our day short by eating so early.

 

That night, we cashed in all our casino winnings, & headed to the room early to watch a movie, unfortunately the great free movie selection that used to be offered on S class ships was gone, replaced by $16 pay per view movies. :') We bit the bullet, & paid for one, as we had all that OBC we'd won back, watched Baby Driver, fantastic movie, & then shared our Melbourne bottle of wine on the balcony under a full moon with wonderful ocean breezes. Turned in early, as I planned to miss not a moment of our sail in to Sydney Harbour the next morning.

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Day 19, Sydney

 

I was up by 5 am, showered,& on the balcony with wet hair to watch the sail in; with the exception of Venice, this is one of the most spectacular sail ins I've experienced. The sun was just rising & shining on the Opera house as we sailed past, & the magnificent Harbour Bridge stood sentinel over the bay.

 

The weather was glorious, hot, but not humid, bright blue skies!

 

Here's some shots, I'm only putting a few, no narration needed:

 

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We disembarked around 7ish, & headed up one block away to catch a cab straight to the train station. We were headed to the Blue Mountains!

 

We bought our Opal Cards (touch on touch off public transport cards) & hopped on the train towards Katoomba. It's a more than two hour ride as the train makes many stops, but the further you get, the more spectacular the scenery.

 

Ok, this part is boring, but if you want to do the Blue Mountains on your own, here's directions:

 

Take a cab to the Sydney Central Station (less than 15 AUD, yes, you could take a train there, but you want to get there early to get on the 8am train, so take a cab.

 

Buy an Opal card with at least 25 AUD each on it. Look for (or ask) for the platform with the train to Katoomba, make sure you get in the right compartment, some of the sections of the train will be left behind at some stops, the compartment that go through will be at the front of the train. Be sure to tap on your Opal card.

 

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This is the Katoomba station where you get off the train:

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When you exit at Katoomba, follow the signs to buy your ticket for the explorer bus, I'd recommend getting the ticket that includes Scenic World, it's spectacular!

 

Katoomba is a sleepy little mountain town, filled with cute little shops & old bars, nice architecture & tile work on the buildings.

 

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Your review was excellent! Thanks for taking us along with you on your adventure. I am excited to do a cruise and see these places all over again. Your review has inspired me...thanks!

 

 

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Thank you! I'm stuck at home today, waiting for the gas company, so I decided to take advantage & finish it up!

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Day 19, Sydney, Blue Mountains, continued.

 

A few tips: the weather changed dramatically during the day, from warm to cold & raining in a matter of minutes, & then back again, so dress accordingly, also, you can do as much or as little walking/hiking as you like. According to our apps, we walked 15 miles that day & climbed 50 flights of stairs (but this included our evening in Sydney too)

 

Basically the hop on hop off explorer bus is terrific, the driver gives you great instructions & answers any questions you may have, so don't be afraid to ask.

 

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more Blue Mountains:

 

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Me, looking like the tourist that I am!

 

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Around 5 we headed back to the train & arrived at the Sydney Central station around 7:30, we took the train back to the dock area & ate dinner at an outdoor cafe near the Opera Bar & across from where our ship was docked, finished up with drinks at the Opera Bar, which was to become a nightly ritual.

 

We headed back to the ship & visited our favorite bars to give out some extra tips & thanks. Said goodbye to a few friends & headed up to the room to pack, which took all of 5 minutes as we pack light, & everything is in packing cubes. Since we pack so light, I send out laundry every day, and do a little hand washing each night. Most of my blouses are a thin cotton silk or cotton linen blend, & they easily dry overnight after being wrapped in a towel. It was nice to pack all clean clothes for our Sydney stay.

 

The cruise part was almost over, we'd disembark in the morning & then have 5 more days in Sydney before we headed back home. As wonderful as this cruise had been, I was ready to get on land & see Sydney more in depth.

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Day 20, Sydney disembark day

 

I forgot to post a few photos from our last night on board:

 

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After sailing 3,129 miles, it was time to leave the ship that had been our home for the last two weeks.

 

We were up showered, & packed by 7am, headed down for breakfast, & then carried our little suitcases down, one of the joys of packing light lol..

 

We breezed through customs, & considered whether to walk to our hotel (Hilton, Sydney) about a 20 minute walk, but decided to take a cab instead.

 

Got ourselves checked in, left our luggage with the porter as rooms weren't ready at 8:15 in the morning, headed to the executive lounge to grab a few snacks, & walked to the Opera House to meet with our tour which we'd prebooked.

 

What can I say about the Opera House that hasn't already been said? We played a little game after, trying to rank it in our favorite buildings, but it's impossible, let's just say it's in the top 5 with La Sagrada in Barcelona, Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, the Pantheon in Rome, & the Eiffel Tower, all in no particular order.

 

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cruise kitty - Thanks so much for posting your great review and photos! We are planning on cruising NZ next November, so this has been enormously helpful. I love your hat - if I may ask, where did you get it?

 

Hi Tabby,

 

My hat is a Tilley TH9 hat, it's 50 SPF & I've worn it in heat & rain, it's so great I've got two of them :) it's machine washable... I think the one I took on this trip is at least 7 years old. Hope this helps. :)

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