and so it begins....Dec/Jan Circumnavigation of Australia on Regatta

[cbb]

in a continuing quest to provide you with detailed info on all parts of this cruise I thought I'd personally check out the medical center.

 

Apparently in the middle of the night, my cold turned into something much more exciting than I wanted. I awakened with a sharp pain in the side of my face and then it got better.

 

Found out that blood from my ear came from a perforated ear drum. Now have received 2 jugs of IV antibiotic with more to come by a very caring staff. I'm in love with the doctor and Ms David the nurse is wonderful.

 

so I've got an infection and they are taking care of me, I'm on meds, and I'll be fine....not so much as the next patient.....

 

yes, we have another medical emergency and we are racing to meet a boat coming from a town offshore to transport him/her off the ship to a hospital.

 

Let's see: 3 weather-related missed ports and 3 medical emergencies. Passengers are declaring this a "cursed cruise."

 

From my perspective, I'm just thrilled that it isn't me or Mr. Wonderful getting ready to get on the boat coming from town....but maybe it is just the IV talking!!!

[palakika]

So sorry to hear that you are sick! Good to hear that medical care is good on Regatta. I would say you and fellow passengers have had more than your share of set backs! Hopefully the rest of cruise is uneventful.

 

Fremantle looks interesting and Dave's photos are really good. Thanks for keeping up the info. Am quite curious about the great Australian Bight which should be coming up soon.

 

Francie

[pinotlover]

Might be taking this cruise off my bucket list! To many missed ports along with obviously poor local food. I’ve heard great things about all the local fresh produce and seafood in western AU along with the great Magaret River wines. I had visions of great fresh seafood paired with a local Leeuwen Artist Series Chardonnay! One of my favorite Chardonnays in the world, hard to find in the States, and local from that area. After all the “at sea” days, the Group’s finding the cuisine so poor as to pass it up and return to the ship for a late lunch is a huge negative vote for western AU cuisine. Surprising?

[cbb]

pinotlover,

 

i'm surprised that you think because i came back to the ship for one late lunch means there is anything wrong with the local cuisine. Nowhere did i state this and i'm afraid you're adding 2+2 and getting 0.

 

I've not been feeling well and we simply returned so that i could have a very light lunch.

 

The local market in Fremantle offered beautiful local products and there are restaurants devoted to seafood offerings. Wine stores abound.

 

If you need a form of travel in which all places on an itinerary are met, then perhaps cruising is not for you.

 

I heartily recommend a circumnavigation of Australia and prayers to the passengers who have had to leave ship.

[PaulMCO]

To be accurate it is 4 missed ports; Brisbane (where we arrived 5+ hours late that tours had to be cancelled), Kingfisher Bay, Exmouth, and Esperance. The first two were not weather related and were resulting in mechanical issues with the ship (the PA system used for Emergency notifications had issues and required repair before we could leave Sydney -- they had to fly parts in to repair it)

[pinotlover]

Cbb;

 

Understand the risk of sailing just play the odds. I cruise for the ports not the ship on sea days. For example, when I decide to visit the Easter Islands, I’ll fly there because odds aren’t good from cruise ships. You have already had a number of missed ports. It’ll be interesting to read how the cruise continues.

 

Hopefully you get over your illnesses so you can fully enjoy your cruise! Getting sick on any vacation is sad.

[pinotlover]

Cbb;

 

Understand the risk of sailing just play the odds. I cruise for the ports not the ship on sea days. For example, when I decide to visit the Easter Islands, I’ll fly there because odds aren’t good from cruise ships. You have already had a number of missed ports. It’ll be interesting to read how the cruise continues.

 

Hopefully you get over your illnesses so you can fully enjoy your cruise! Getting sick on any vacation is sad.

[JoePDX]

Cynthia- Thank you for your informative and positive posts! Hope you are well on the mend.

 

Joe

[cbb]

thanks Joe....

[deus]

Hi cbb

 

I am sorry to hear about your ear drum issue - hopefully it is not bothering you too much.

 

I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your writing style. It is like you are talking right to me - love it! You are so positive!! Can hardly wait to meet you on our cruise in April.

 

Lauren

[cbb]

thanks Lauren, Looking forward to meeting you as well!

 

I needed to read what you wrote. Wanting to remain positive!

 

Hopefully I will be able to return home on our scheduled flight on the 23rd. Murmurs from doc about "ENT in Sydney"....don't need to hear that!!!

 

In the good news category, we have regained the time lost and should be arriving in Kangaroo Island at 8am--as our original itinerary indicated.

[excited cruise traveler]

cbb, sorry to hear about your med. problem, love your writing style as well and the positive attitude since so many people, including some replies, always see the glass as half empty instead of half full. Printed your description of Freemantle and made some notes on other items. We have a deposit on this cruise for 2018 since in 2019 they will do the circumference of Australia per Oceania rep. last week. Hope you feel very much better soon and continue your diary of this trip. Thanks so much for it. Carol C. (excited cruise traveler)

[excited cruise traveler]

Sorry, I left the word NOT out of sentence regarding 2019 cruise

[Sea42]

I hope your medical issues clear up quickly and you can get back to fully enjoying your cruise!

[cbb]

to the good citizens of Poland: Doc comes from your country, not Norway--you should be very proud of him--he's very caring.

 

He and Ms David are wonderful to me and to every single person who comes into the clinic whether they are crew or passenger. They need another person on staff--they are slammed.

 

More IVs for me but the news about the ear drum appears to be positive so here's hoping!

 

The entertainer was on at 5:30 last night and since i've just thrown Currents away, I don't have his name but he's from Texas and sings and tells jokes. Apparently he's a regular since some ATW16 people knew him.

 

As a result, Terrace was pretty slammed at 6:30 with all the attendees coming upstairs for dinner. It was "Indonesian Buffet" night and all of the Indonesian servers were in national dress, and the rest were in white rolled up sleeved shirts...very cute!

 

I did not have anything other than 1/2 of Mr. Wonderful's steak and a baked potato (unfortunately cold) but food is not something I'm really interested in right now.

 

One gentleman loudly proclaimed it was the "worse food he'd ever eaten" and left. Another remarked that she thought the food was excellent and was going back for more...so there you have it!

 

Big Brunch in the GDR this morning from 9:30-1:00 which I'm sure will be appreciated by most.

 

We changed our clocks ahead by 1 hour two nights ago and last night ahead by 1.5 hrs so this morning everyone is a little baffled...the body says one thing, the clock says another....brunch solves the problem!!!

 

New show by the entertainment staff tonight; it was supposed to be by the flautist/flutist Jane Rutter (I'm not getting into the argument)

 

Ennrichment lectures today: Russell Moll is speaking on "Water and Ice: Southern Ocean and Antarctica" and Dan Ostler on "Macquarie: Scottish Clan Laird, Father of a Nation"

 

Went back to Trivia and was able to help a little although I did provide 2 wrong answers--"Henry" Miller instead of "Arthur Miller" (duh) and "Goodrich" instead of "Firestone"....but I retaliated with "Madonna", "Sleeping Beauty" and "ketchup"....ahhh the joys of trivia!!!

 

We've either got some stone-cold trvia players on board or they've cruised so often they've heard the questions before...or they've hand-picked their group members by knowledge-base ("tv-movie" "shakespeare" "chemistry/bio" "geography", "history", and a wide representation of countries!)

 

so that's life on board today. Hug your loved ones, including the 4 legged ones, if you are ill--get well soon wishes, and if you are well--count your blessings!!!! Until next time........Kangaroo Island!!!!

[palakika]

You sound a bit better today..So that's good news. We usually eat dinner in Terrace and it can get really busy for special dinner nights. I would think Indonesian would be popular. There's a bit more room on Marina. I love the little lamb chops from the grill. Watching Australian Open tennis and 69 with showers now in evening. Maybe it will be nice and cool when you get there. It was very hot in Sydney the other day.

[Aussie Gal]

With all our missed ports and Medical Emergencies happening, we are still enjoying our time on the Regatta. The weather has been disappointing due to the Cyclone up near Broome and Exmouth but that is par for the course as this is the cyclone season in Northern Australia.

 

Tomorrow in Kangaroo Island we are expecting 25C-28C and in Adelaide on Wednesday it is going to be 37C. Melbourne on Friday will be similar so we will soon be back to an Australian summer!

 

We had dinner up in Polo last night and had a great meal. We have also eaten a few times in Toscano and most nights in the Grand Dining Room. Our favourite meal each day is breakfast in the dining room where most tables are for two and we can enjoy a very leisurely meal.

 

We ate lunch out in Fremantle both days and enjoyed the meals. On the first day we went to a restaurant overlooking the water where we had delicious oysters and calamari. On the second day we ate at a little cafe and had a delicious salad roll and home made carrot cake.

 

Western Australia does have great wines from Margaret River, South Australia also has great wines, Victoria has wonderful cool climate wines from the Yarra Valley and the Mornington Peninsula as does Tasmania. The food and produce from each State is delicious and varied and it is a pity that Oceania doesn't provide some of the wonderful fish that is found in this part of our continent. Instead they only offer Dover Sole, Sea Bass and those very small frozen lobsters from the U.S.

 

At the moment we are cruising in waters where the best crayfish you can eat is caught and not far away is Coffin Bay where the most wonderful oysters are grown! If we want to enjoy this type of produce and wines, we have to take a land trip as cruising doesn't provide these wonderful products. Still, we haven't gone hungry though the ship did run out of yoghurt and a few other prodoucts for a couple of days before we reached Fremantle.

 

Overall, Peter and I have enjoyed this cruise, especially seeing our country through the eyes of our Canadian and U.S. friends We are of course disappointed in missing the 3 ports though yesterday we booked a trip to Fraser Island so life isn't too bad. . We just need to all pull up our socks and try and do better at Trivia!!

 

Jennie

[cbb]

well done Jennie! Excellent info on the wines --I'll look for some of the Taz wines when I get home.

 

I, too, am surprised that there hasn't been more local seafood on board--could it be they can't provide the amounts Regatta needs? Running out of bananas though was interesting....we must all be banana eaters!

 

And hey, if you think socks will help us in Trivia, I'll wear some...I think I packed a couple of pair!!!

 

and yes, feeling better by a huge amount....ahhh, the miracles of modern medicines!!!

[palakika]

Yes, we have no bananas?! I do like my 'nanas, as my grandson used to say. Hope you are resupplied.

[cbb]

tried socks for trivia.....sigh.

 

But....

 

tomorrow is Kangaroo Island 25C, sunny, no rain chances, rental car, Remarkable Rocks with Jennie & Peter, Cathi and Bruce, Dave and me= YAY!

 

off the ship, out in the sun, with friends and sweetie--good times!!!

[Emma Chisit]

tried socks for trivia.....sigh.

But....

tomorrow is Kangaroo Island 25C, sunny, no rain chances, rental car, Remarkable Rocks with Jennie & Peter, Cathi and Bruce, Dave and me= YAY!

off the ship, out in the sun, with friends and sweetie--good times!!!

Hey, hope you all have a great day. Looking forward to reading about it - D & I having never been to Kangaroo Island. (Yeah, I know - haven't been to the Great Barrier Reef either, and it's in the state where I was born. They might come to revoke my citizenship if this gets out.....Oh wait...)

 

PS. Regarding bananas, on our 2016 Insignia cruise you did know they kept them under the counter in Terrace and you had to request them specifically,right? I'm not sure if a secret password was also involved.

[Emma Chisit]

 

Western Australia does have great wines from Margaret River, South Australia also has great wines, Victoria has wonderful cool climate wines from the Yarra Valley and the Mornington Peninsula as does Tasmania. The food and produce from each State is delicious and varied and it is a pity that Oceania doesn't provide some of the wonderful fish that is found in this part of our continent. Instead they only offer Dover Sole, Sea Bass and those very small frozen lobsters from the U.S.

At the moment we are cruising in waters where the best crayfish you can eat is caught and not far away is Coffin Bay where the most wonderful oysters are grown! If we want to enjoy this type of produce and wines, we have to take a land trip as cruising doesn't provide these wonderful products. Still, we haven't gone hungry though the ship did run out of yoghurt and a few other prodoucts for a couple of days before we reached Fremantle.

Jennie

 

Mmm Jennie. Coffin Bay oysters and a nice cool climate chardonnay from Tasmania. That sounds perfect.

Cynthia, buy some Tassie wine in Burnie. I never found them easy to get in the US. I think they drink it all themselves.

[palakika]

Now I have all the info needed on next cruise in May Sydney to LA on Insignia! Bananas under counter in Terrace and purchase great Tas wines in Burnie. Thanks!

[Emma Chisit]

Now I have all the info needed on next cruise in May Sydney to LA on Insignia! Bananas under counter in Terrace and purchase great Tas wines in Burnie. Thanks!

 

And socks will not help you win Trivia....

[HilsTas]

Mmm Jennie. Coffin Bay oysters and a nice cool climate chardonnay from Tasmania. That sounds perfect.

Cynthia, buy some Tassie wine in Burnie. I never found them easy to get in the US. I think they drink it all themselves.

 

Emma - a definite yep to the Tassie wines - we keep most of them here as we reckon they are pretty special.

(But CBB - you may also like to try the pinot noir as well as the chardonnay when in Burnie - and they may even sell you a bottle to take away). A reasonably inexpensive liquor chain is BWS and they have a branch in Burnie (but no tastings).

 

Anything from the East Coast of Tasmania will be brilliant - Freycinet wines are boomers, Devils Corner good for a lower price bracket

 

Sorry, Tassie wines and i have a bit of a love affair happening - i could talk to myself about them for hours if no-one else is interested :D