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Live Surprise: Radiance of the Seas to Tasmania (Feb 2016)

Sparky74

By Sparky74,
in Australia & New Zealand Cruisers

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Sparky74 "Live from...." Rare

Sparky74

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Please bear with me as this is my first attempt at writing a live review!

 

Background

I have booked this cruise as a surprise for DW's birthday which is on Saturday, so we board two days before her actual birthday. No, it's not a "significant" birthday but I wanted to do something special for her (she has to put up with a lot being married to me) and she's often spoken about wanting to cruise to Tasmania.

 

Who Are We?

I'm Mark and DW is Cathryn. We are Salvation Army Officers in our early 40s and like so many other people from all walks of life we enjoy cruising. We trained for officership separately and both served as single officers for a number of years before meeting.

 

We married in November 2009 when we were in our mid 30s and discovered cruising the following year and to date have been on 9 cruises so this is cruise number 10. This will also be our first cruise as Diamond members of the Crown & Anchor Society, Royal Caribbean's loyalty program.

 

We are teetotallers and non-gamblers. Not real party animals!

 

Keeping the Secret

The hardest part of planning this cruise has been keeping it secret from Cathryn. I always get excited before a cruise and like to count down how many "sleeps" to go like a little kid before Christmas.

 

One thing that has helped is that Cathryn and I currently have seperate appointments within The Salvation Army; I'm the chaplain at an aged care centre whilst she has "command" of a small "corps" (local congregation).

 

I have had to apply for leave for her and make sure she doesn't know, get permission for us to attend a mandatory conference on a different date (long story), arrange for all her duties to be covered, pack her bag... all without her knowledge.

 

But I THINK I've managed it! At least she hasn't let on that she knows what's going on.

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Sparky74 "Live from...." Rare

Sparky74

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Pre-cruise Travel and Accommodation

 

Yesterday

 

Yesterday we had the newly employed property manager from headquarters come to inspect all the Salvation Army properties for which Cathryn is responsible. I actually have a second appointment as Cathryn's Associate Officer (like an assistant) and as she was busy with other commitments for most of the morning I was tied up with the property guy.

 

This meant that I didn't get out to the aged care centre until well after lunch and I had SO MUCH to do!

 

As a natural procrastinator it's always an effort and a big rush to get away on time for holidays. I have a lovely lady officer from headquarters relieving me but she's a very particular old maid (hope that doesn't offend anyone:eek:) and so I needed to make sure my Ts were dotted and my Is were crossed. I'm not a naturally tidy person and my office looked like a bomb had hit it...

 

Add to this I was also supporting a dying resident (I've told her she has to wait until I get back and that I WILL see her on Friday week) and helping her plan her funeral. The staff and residents are all in on the secret and have been very supportive.

 

The Shirt

 

One thing that I didn't mention in my intro was that on embarkation day (or Barking Day as I call it) Cathryn and I like to wear matching homemade shirts. Hopefully I will be able to post photos in this review so stay tuned.

 

I had sent fabric to Cathryn's mother to make her blouse whilst I made my shirt. I needed to take every opportunity that I was home alone (which isn't often) to get some sewing done and in the end the care manager at work suggested I bring it out and finish it at the facility, providing residents and staff with some entertainment watching the male chaplain sewing!

 

Well, my father-in-law posted the blouse on Friday but it didn't arrive until yesterday afternoon. So once it arrived I still had the buttons and buttonholes to do on my shirt. Long story short I got everything done but we left home a lot later than I had planned.

 

Travelling to Sydney

 

We live 4 hours or so from Sydney. I had told Cathryn that we would need to take Thursday as our day off this week for her birthday surprise and at about 5pm I phoned her told her to say that I will be another hour and that we were going to Sydney tonight so she should pack an overnight bag. This was so she didn't have to get up at what she calls "stupid o'clock". (She's not a morning person, I am!)

 

As usual, I under estimate the time required. I grab KFC for dinner and we end up getting away from home about 9pm. Cathryn tries to get some sleep in the car but has difficulty nodding off while I carefully monitor my level of alertness and press on.

 

She had just managed to doze off when I brake fairly hard but in a controlled manner (I was pretty impressed be use I don't particularly consider myself a good driver). Anyway, I have my foot on the brake when BANG! We hit a kangaroo.:eek:

 

Fortunately it was a small one (a wallaby, I think) and I'd managed to slow down from 110km/hour, so whilst there is some (further damage) to the front of the car it was still drivable. I'm also pleased that I hadn't yet go the car repaired after hitting a roo on NYE. I've been driving on Australian country roads for over 20 years and had never hit a roo and now I've hit two in as many months! I hope they don't come in threes.

 

Accommodation

We finally arrived just after 1.30am. Now that's what I call "stupid o'clock".

 

We even managed to to navigate suburban roads as a section of the M5 was closed for road works.

 

Where are we staying? The Hilton, The Mercure, The Sheraton?

Err... Not quite.

 

We have limited means but as Salvation Army Officers we can access accommodation at the Officer Training College. It's basic but comfortable and it's a nostalgic as this is where we both spent two years of our lives (at different times). Located at Bexley North it's a short train trip into Circular Quay and it's only $50 including linen AND the money supports the college. A win all round.

 

We fall into bed and by 2am our iPads are off.

 

Stay tuned to see what happens when Cathryn wakes up this morning and find out how I'm going to reveal to her what we're doing today and for the next week.

Edited by Sparky74
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Kiwi Kruzer

Kiwi Kruzer

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Bon Voyage

Wishing you both a wonderful cruise..

 

 

Thu 18/02/16 Sydney / Australia

Fri 19/02/16 Newcastle / Australia

Sat 20/02/16 At Sea

Sun 21/02/16 Hobart (Tasmania) / Australia

Mon 22/02/16 At Sea

Tue 23/02/16 Melbourne / Australia

Wed 24/02/16 At Sea

Thu 25/02/16 Sydney / Australia

 

4hxxkg.jpg

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avalon007

avalon007

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Hiya Sparky,

 

Nice to hear what you are up to, been a few years now since we met - have fun being Diamond & Happy Birthday to Cathryn!

 

We are about to cruise on VOS again & looking forward to checking out the new Diamond Lounge they added. :)

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janabelle61

janabelle61

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I tried to stay up and watch the sail away, but it was 11:30pm pacific time (US) and just too late :( I was watching the web cam for the harbor and thinking that there was a very surprised and happy woman aboard that ship, thanks to her generous husband!

 

This is part of my future 'retirement' cruise, so I'm anxious to hear all about your adventure!

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Sparky74 "Live from...." Rare

Sparky74

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Thursday - Barking Day

 

As I mentioned earlier, I'm a morning person. So, in spite of "lights-out" not being until 2am my internal body clock still had me up with the sparrows. Cathryn prefers to get up at the crack of noon (no judgement here - we're just wired differently) so rather sensibly she was still asleep. I took the opportunity to write a couple of posts for my Cruise Critic not-so-live-but-only-a-day-behind review.

 

After a shower, breakfast of a cold piece of KFC left over from the night before and some time checking Cruise Critic and FaceBook I convinced Cathryn to get up, have her shower and get dressed.

 

The Big Reveal

 

Once she was dressed (this was an important step because I wanted to take some photos) I handed Cathryn a shoebox wrapped in birthday paper. She asked if it was the new joggers I had bought for her last week. As she unwrapped the paper and saw the box she said, "No, it's your new shoes."

 

Inside the box I had placed my new shirt that I'd finished making yesterday, her new blouse which arrived in the post from her mother yesterday afternoon, our passports, our luggage tags and our Set Sail Passes right on the top.

 

Now Cathryn is not the most demonstrative person. That's another way in which we are quite different. I would have been jumping around the room, bouncing off the walls, hooting with excitement. Cathryn, on the other hand took it quite calmly. The conversation went something like this:

 

Cathryn: (calmly and quite matter-of-fact) We're going on a cruise?

Mark: (excitedly) Yes!

C: So you've packed my bag for me?

M: No, we're going on one of those "clothes optional" cruises.

 

(I should mention here that we have joked about "those cruises" with horror and somewhat disbelief. Yes, we know that there are Nudist Cruises and that it takes all types but it is not our scene AT ALL and I'm sure that none would WANT to see us in our birthday suits either!)

 

C: At least I've got two sets of clothes with me.

M: Of course I've packed your bag!

C: Did you pack...

 

And then Cathryn started to list off items to which I was able to answer "yes" except for her board shorts. Now, in my defence, Cathryn purchased two new swim suits on sale a couple of weeks ago. We try to follow the philosophy of "dressing for the body you have rather than the body you want" (a philosophy that some of fellow cruises could do well to adopt!) and so Cathryn's new swimsuits are quite modest and have a skirt attached. So I think I can be forgiven for not packing her boardies.

 

Last Minute Shopping

 

Now, I'm keen to get into Circular Quay and onto the ship as soon as possible but realise we now need to go shopping. We also need to buy sunscreen but I already knew that. So we decide to head to Roselands Shopping Centre after we drop off our key. We head up to the office and the Training Principal is on for a chat. We also meet Clayton, one of Cathryn's "session mates" (they trained in the same "session" of cadets) and he agreed to drop us at the train station when we returned from Roselands.

 

At Roselands we go shopping for sunscreen, shampoo, colouring pencils and coloured pens, chocolates, lollies... Oh and that's right, we also need some board shorts. After checking out Millers and Best & Lest we find some suitable boardies at Target and eventually head back to the college. I'm starting to get a little anxious as we usually like to be on the ship as early as possible and I want to change our dining preference once on board.

 

Transit to the Ship

 

So we get back to the college and of course Clayton is not in his office, he's on lunch. Then I run into Vickie, the college business manager and she's on for a chat. Perhaps I should mention that I'm not bad at chatting myself and I often tell people that when I was a baby I was vaccinated with a gramophone needle!

 

Eventually I find Clayton and guess what? He's on for a chat! No surprise there as Clayton is ALWAYS on for a chat. He drops us at the train station and after we purchase our tickets from a machine a railway employee comes along and (you're not going to believe this) HE'S on for a chat too! There must be something in the water today!

 

We catch the train to Circular Quay Station. Then it's a very short walk to the OPT (Overseas Passenger Terminal) and we catch our first glimpse of Radiance of the Seas, our home for the next week. Cathryn takes the obligatory photo of the ship and comments that we now have lots of photos of ships in port.

 

Boarding

 

We dropped our luggage at the drop off point and entered the OPT building. There was no line so we were directed straight up the escalator. As we have cruised with Royal Caribbean before we are now Diamond members of their loyalty program, the Crown & Anchor Society. There was a special line for Diamond C&A members and before we could fill out our medical questionnaire (about half a dozen yes/no questions) we were at the desk and then we were on the ship. This has probably been the fastest and smoothest boarding experience we have had to date.

 

We're off to trivia now; I'll write more this afternoon.

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