Livish from the Solstice Singapore to Sydney, maybe more

[abbydancer2003]

5 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Abbey -- Been watching your progress on Cruise Mapper as you make your way to Sydney. 

 

Enjoyed the photos of Murano.    We have already booked it for the first night.   I've always found the first night in all the main menus a mess so usually try to get Specialty for the First Night.

 

Curious --- how would you say the food has been in Luminae?    Been getting a number of positive reports.

It's been good.  If you look at my last comment on my last post, they managed to do something right that has never happened before.  

 

It would be nice to have dinner together one night.  We're not doing any specialty after this cruise, for obvious reasons.

[abbydancer2003]

Mega Trip day 9 - Sea Day 4 - Monday 2

 

So still working off jet lag and clock changes, we woke up at 9, or so we thought.  The captain’s announcement came on at 9:15?  Oops, clock went forward 30 minutes last night.  I guess that’s to match Darwin time.  Those wacky Aussies.

 

So I manually set my phone to Darwin time, which now matches ship time.  And I got my grade for the final I took in Singapore - Full credit except for the one Multiple choice.  Yippee, for what it’s worth.

 

We called Walter for our morning coffee, which he puts out with placemats and pastries.  I guess it’s back to coffee table coffee next week.  

 

After breakfast and fully dressing, we called Walter to take us to the customs officers.  Turns out he wasn’t necessary, since there were only two people there when we got there, and they were already getting their passports. We were quickly checked off, and I went to the lounge.  Glen brought the passports back and put them in the safe (presumably, I haven’t looked) and then we met Robin and Brenda for our now regular morning coffee.

 

Once they headed to lunch we wandered a bit and then went to lunch at Luminae.  Today is the day I get a main dining lunch - cold blueberry soup, fried chicken and then key lime pie.  My favorite pie.  The fried chicken on this ship was the best I’ve had yet, and I let Pratip, our waiter know.  

 

As is usually after lunch now, I worked on the blog until it was time for trivia.  While Glen shows up once in a while, we now have a team with Dorinda and husband Dale, and 2 or 3 gentlemen, one from Britain and one from US.  Today was Beatles on the music, and we won that.  We also won general trivia in part because I knew the 3 fairies in Sleeping Beauty.  

 

Next stop was the lounge, where I met Bill and his wife Linda from Cruise Critic.  I do hope to talk to them more later in the cruise.  

 

In part I was there because Ann and I wanted to confirm with the concierges that they can take our Yorkies Knob group off as priority.  It helps that most are elite. We talked to Ann and co for a bit, and then headed up to the room.

 

Next stop was the production show, “Amade”, based, sort of on Mozart.  Here are some pictures.

 

Notice the costumes.

 

I guess adding costuming on stage is part of it.

 

 

One thing Celebrity does well is aerialists.

 

 

They did something similar in Elysium years ago.

 

After the show, we checked out the atrium for dance music, but the “dance” band is not very good, and doesn’t play danceable music.  It is, however, loud, so we went upstairs to the sky lounge where from 8-9 they play recorder ballroom music.  It wasn’t bad, and not quite elevator music so we danced some.  We also ran into Dorinda and Dale there, who were a bit surprised to see us.

 

After that, it was down to Luminae for dinner and then bed.  Tomorrow is Darwin, and we have a very early tour.

 

 

[XBARBSX]

Really enjoying this!  Thank You for taking the time.  My DH and I will be joining you in Hawaii.  And since we are in a sky suite all your info about butlers and such is very helpful.  Hope to meet you on ship. 

[kluv2cruz]

Abby, did you get a chance to check out the bikes? I may have missed it? Thanks for doing a live from… enjoying!

[abbydancer2003]

1 hour ago, kluv2cruz said:

Abby, did you get a chance to check out the bikes? I may have missed it? Thanks for doing a live from… enjoying!

I just went.  The only bikes I saw were gathered together against the wall in the studio.  I took a picture of one, plus the schedule and the sign up sheets.  I hope it helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MicCanberra]

You may want to pack your brolly for your days visiting Cairns and Airlie Beach.

[kluv2cruz]

11 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

I just went.  The only bikes I saw were gathered together against the wall in the studio.  I took a picture of one, plus the schedule and the sign up sheets.  I hope it helps.

ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! Thank you so much!!

[Lastdance]

I am living vicariously through all your comments and photos, as we had canceled our trip Down Under.  Thank goodness due to my DH and his crazy skiing accidents.  Looks like you are off to a great start with cruising, friends and “suite life.”

Thanks for sharing!
 

[StartrainDD]

19 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

Mega Trip day 9 - Sea Day 4 - Monday 2

 

As is usually after lunch now, I worked on the blog until it was time for trivia. 

I suppose if you don't have folks tempting you to play Catan you have time for the blog!  Enjoying following along - have a super time!

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Our travel agent is on this cruise , with about 10 clients 

but in Sydney she has 30 cabins book for the cross , 

I just wish I had one of the cabins 😢

you doing a nice review ! 

[abbydancer2003]

23 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

You may want to pack your brolly for your days visiting Cairns and Airlie Beach.

Weather was hot but dry today in Cairns.  Nice to see you on CC!

[abbydancer2003]

Thanks all.  

 

MegaTrip - Day 12 - Darwin AS - Tuesday 2

 

Today is our second stop, Darwin Australia and  1/2 hour off of most places.  Today we have one of 2 ship tours on this cruise, booked late because nothing was available on the Black Friday sale, and I couldn’t find any good private excursions.  We chose to visit Litchfield National Park, which is famous for Waterfalls and Termite Mounds.  It’s a ways away, and so our meet time was 7am.  Nothing else will be that early.

 

We set the alarm for 6, but managed to sleep through it.  Fortunately the doorbell rang at 6:09 with Walter delivering our breakfast.  I saw we were in Darwin.

 

We had to be at the theater just before 7, so we got dressed, finished breakfast and headed down.  

We got our numbers and then sat at the theater for a bit until they got clearance around 7:20.  They called groups 1 and 2, so we followed the crowd out where we waited until the gangway actually opened.  We walked through the outside path to the terminal, where there was a very cursory bag inspection, and then onward to our bus number 2.  We got seat in about the 7th row.  Our guide was Derek, and his mike was not quite loud enough.  

 

Our first stop was at a gas station/cafe.  I used the restrooms, and wandered around.  There were lots of birds, I think they were white parrots.

 

After that, we drove to Litchfield Park.  It was about a 2 hour drive total.  First stop was their famous termite mounds.  We saw two different types, meaning different types of termites.

 

 

There was an informational display all about termites.  Wow!

 

Apparently there are workers, and queens and children.  Learn something new everyday.

 

And the type of mounds vary by type of termite.  These guys build cathedrals.

 

 

 

You can't really see them in the picutes, but there are termites crawling all over them.

 

After about a half hour there, we went to the first of our two waterfalls.  There was a close viewing platform but Derek took us to a lower one with better views.  I believe we were at Tolmer falls.

 

 

And from a bit further away..

 

 

 

It was very pretty.  The landscape is pretty interesting as well.

 

Next stop was lunch.  On the way there, I got somewhat overheated, which happens once in a while.  I did manage to make it to lunch without passing out, though.

 

Lunch was a buffet at an outdoor cafe.  Apparently, though, the cook a limited amount of meat/fish because our guide started with “who likes chicken, counted and made the rest fish.  Not exactly accurate but I don’t think it matters, since maybe some who like chicken also like fish. 

 

The buffet consisted of pasta and potato salad (the potato salad made me nervous since it was outdoors and the buffet was cooled by bottles of frozen water,  not on ice.  There was then chicken and fish, bread,  and some watermelon. I had a few bites of chicken with some bottled bbq sauce  but mostly had watermelon and water.

 

After lunch we went to our second waterfall.  Wangi Falls.  It was the more impressive of the two.

 

The falls are gorgeous.

 

 

 

 

 

Following that, we started back to the port.  We did do a stop at a hotel/gas station/cafe which has a crocodile out back, but it wasn’t visible (and I’ve seen them in the wild so it didn’t matter.  They did have some gorgeous emus, thought.

 

 

It took a little while to get back, and we stopped in town to drop off a couple who hated to explore the town.  Derek did point out some things for us as we drove through town.  We were dropped off around 3:30, and quickly made our way to the ship.

 

Once on board, I rested for a while, and then watched sailing on the balcony.

 

 

We had booked Le Petite Chef tonight, because I thought iit was a new menu.  We were seated promptly at 8:30, and the staff was nice.  However, when the show started, I realized it was the very first ever show, with a couple of menu tweaks.

 

 

The meat course was filet mignon, and they could not cook it right in two trrys. The second was medium, which we could live with, so we ate it.

 

Glen did like the little footprints on the plate of his ice cream sundae.

 

 

They then told me there was a new menu and show on the last few days of the cruise.  If we’d known that, we would have waited.

 

The manager did tell me he’d give me a nice discount if we came back next cruise.

 

After that, back to the room and collapse.

 

 

[MicCanberra]

9 minutes ago, abbydancer2003 said:

Weather was hot but dry today in Cairns.  Nice to see you on CC!

Good stuff, they had a 50% chance of rain for today. Tomorrow in Airlie will be similar temperatures and a 40% chance. Being a tropical region, a quick downpour can happen.

[MicCanberra]

The white birds were most likely Cockatoos

[FeebeeH]

4 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

The white birds were most likely Cockatoos

Yes, the white birds are definitely cockatoos, we have so many of them eating our mandarins, pears, gum trees and a neighbour has had his window frames chipped away by their beaks.

[hcat]

Hope you recovered from overheating...and long travel

 

great pics... and rundown on this port.. Love the waterfalls and birds..  The termite mounds gave me the creeps.. So odd they build tall mounds.

 

(We just hired a bug service, ..lots of ants here LI NY , inside and out, due to heavy rain....does not include termites..most of those here nip away  from underground tunnels..)

 

 

Edited April 5 by hcat

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Le Petite Chef Is a no go for me ,

I miss Quine , it was a good time with friends 

Edited April 5 by Ex-Airbalancer

[MicCanberra]

7 hours ago, hcat said:

Hope you recovered from overheating...and long travel

 

great pics... and rundown on this port.. Love the waterfalls and birds..  The termite mounds gave me the creeps.. So odd they build tall mounds.

 

(We just hired a bug service, ..lots of ants here LI NY , inside and out, due to heavy rain....does not include termites..most of those here nip away  from underground tunnels..)

 

 

The mounds go tall for better air conditioning, 

[abbydancer2003]

19 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Le Petite Chef Is a no go for me ,

I miss Quine , it was a good time with friends 

I got to do Qsine once, with friends.  I wish it was back, since LPC is never very full.

 

[abbydancer2003]

Mega trip. Day 13 Sea Day 5 Wednesday 2

 

We were up early today, since we went to bed early last night, thanks to the early start yesterday.  We called Walter for coffee, and then went to breakfast.  We both had omelettes, but I wasn’t very hungry so didn’t eat a lot.

 

We decided to next go to the lounge, and spent an hour chatting with people.  As usual, at around 11:20 we met Brenda and Robin for coffee and chatted with them until their lunch time.

 

I really just wanted some soup but both main and Luminae had broccoli cheese, so we went to Sushi so I could have some Miso soup.  I had that and tried the beef ramen slider.  I ate most of both.

 

Glen had the shrimp tempura Udon.

 

The miso:

 

 

The slider:

Next up was rest and then trivia.  The music trivia was Beach Boys, and our team knew several.  One song threw us, “Disney Girls”.  I knew it from the Art Garfunkel cover, but couldn’t come up with the title.  We didn’t win, but did OK on general trivia.  

 

We went back to the room afterward to read - we do spend a lot of time in the room because it’s so nice and we can watch the ocean.  

 

Since tonight was Evening Chic, we decided to go to the show at 7, and let the butlers seat us.  It was an Australian singer named Lisa Woodbrook, and she was pretty good.  She did sing a variety of genres, but she did an upbeat version of one of my “should be banned forever” songs. - My Heart will Go On.  (I wish this song would go on to obscurity.).  

 

Next stop was Luminae for dinner.  I had tomato soup (I guess today is in fact soup day) and prime rib from main.  It was pretty good, but I’m still not hungry, so I ate a little.

 

After dinner, we called it a night.  

 

[abbydancer2003]

Mega Trip Day 14 - Sea Day 6 - Thursday 2

 

Random ocean view to start the day

 

We had the half hour change  to get to “not Darwin” time, so slept late.  After our usually morning coffee, we decided to go to the Captain’s Club breakfast in Tuscan.

 

 

For the first time for me, the fruit, meat, and breads were a buffet at the entrance (my understanding is that they used to do this on all ships.  I also don’t recall it on this ship in 2023.

 

 

 

I had a bit of fruit, and then decided I wanted a bagel.  No bagels on the buffet, so I was told to ask the waiter.  He brought on with a lot of cream cheese.  Since there’s cream cheese on the the buffet,  next time I’ll have the waiter bring the bagel and get my own cream cheese.

 

On the way back, I noticed that they’d posted the brand new menu and show for Le Petit Chef.  We should have waited.  

 

We went back to the room, and noticed an interesting ship to the side.

 

 

At 11:15 we had a bridge tour.  We walked over a bit early, but Glen realized he’d left his cruise card in Tuscan, so he went back and I met the group in the elevator lobby.  Glen arrived in time for the security check.

 

As usually an officer explained how things worked on one of the side terminals.  On Princess, they show you the main terminal and I have a picture of Glen in the captain’s chair.  No matter, here we are enjoying it.

 

 

After the tour it was lunch time, and today it was back to the first days lunch.  Glen ordered the beet soup, and said it was more like a goulash and not much beet flavor.

 

We both had the NY steak, and main dining’s strawberry shortcake for dessert.

 

 

Next item of interest was trivia.  Music today was 70’s and hard.  I suspect we’ll do really well next cruise.

 

Following that, I decided to tweak our specialty dining for the remainder or the cruise.  I wanted to do a second Tuscan, a third Murano and the new LPC menu, that starts tomorrow.  So I headed downstairs.  First thing I wanted to do was confirm when the new LPC menu starts, as I absolutely only want to to do that.

 

Arriving at the restaurant, there was no-one there, but a waiter came out of the crew door, so I asked him.  (He was our tuscan waiter for breakfast, but now in LPC garb).  He confirmed tomorrow and offered to tweak all my reservations.  I decided to move Tuscan to tonight, LPC on the 6th, and Murano on the last night.  

 

We went to the lounge prior to our Tuscan dinner, and then headed over.  We had the same server, and found out she’d had a great time with family in Bali.  Her assistant brought oil and vinegar as the bread dip, which was a little surprising.

 

 

He told us the basil had gone bad, and they hoped to get more in Sydney.  They did give us some Rosemary and Thyme (fun fact:  The song by Simon and Garfunkel has a lower vocal that’s a strong anti-war song.  I learned this in the class I just finished).

 

 

We split the antipasto plate to start.  It’s really better to do when you have more people.

 

 

I tried the filet mignon, as was recommended and it was really very good.  For dessert I had their zabiglione strawberry shortcake (apparently theme of the day for me).  It was very nice and light.

 

Glen had tiramiso and said it was too sweet.

 

As we were walking back to the room after dinner, I remembered that I’d asked Pradeep, our waiter if I could have the baked brie from Blu tonight and he’d arranged that.  I felt bad for not showing up, so I went to Luminae to apologize.  Everyone was very appreciative that I did that.

 

Tomorrow starts our next round of port days, so early to bed.  

 

[abbydancer2003]

Here's the next day.  Should I complete?

 

Megatrip Day 16. Yorkie’s Knob (Cairns) Friday 2

 

Today is our second of two private tours on this cruise (4 ports, two ship/two private).  It’s a tender port, and Ann and I have arranged that the Retreat Concierges will take all of us off.  Ann and I agreed to meet at 8:15 inside the entrance to the Club, and we asked the rest to come at 8:30.  

 

We ordered a light breakfast in the room at 7, and Walter brought it soon after, and at 8:10 we were ready to go.

 

I ran into two of our group outside the club, and brought them.  Everyone was there by 8:30, so Mar took us out.  We boarded the tender, but had to wait for it to fill, but by about 8:40 we were on our way.  The tender ride here is close to 30 minutes, so we arrived at 9:10.  Our tour is at 9:30, so all good.  

 

Dorinda contacted the company, and they had us wait at the entrance to a boat club.  At 9:15, Chris, our guide arrived, and off we went to Cairns. (The r is silent).  Apparently the two biggest industries are sugar and tourism.  We passed sugar fields on the way in.

 

Our first stop was the St. Margaret’s Cathedral.  This church has, by far, the most interesting stained glass windows I’ve ever seen.  The front two commemorate WW2.  Here’s one.

 

 

The story of creation is told along the walls, and it’s the scientific one.  Some pictures.  

 

 

 

And the other entrance piece.

 

 

If they interest you, you might want to see more info at their website.

 

Following that, we drove and saw some of the sights.  Because we were running a bit early, we stopped at the park at the lagoon.  

 

 

Curiously, there is a cruise dock in town for smaller ships, so I don’t know why we don’t tender to there.  Maybe somebody knows?

 

There were a number of birds there, and we saw this cute baby bird.

 

 

Our next stop was the museum, which was a small museum about the history of Cairns.  We were given an overview by a museum guide and we got some time to explore.  They acknowledge and feature their indigenous population.

 

 

Our next stop was the Botanical Gardens.  We did not have time to see all of it, but Chris was very knowledgeable about it, and we saw lots of plants.

 

 

We also saw the local turkey vulture.

 

 

There are some very old banyan trees.  Apparently they build around a host tree, and eventually the host dies.

 

 

And of course there are chocolate trees (technically cocoa)

 

 

And some wild ginger

 

 

And no botanical garden would be complete without some flowering plants.

 

 

After that, we headed to a nice cafe for some tea (coffee or soft drinks also available) and a scone.  The scones were large and flavored with lemon and dates.  We had one gluten free person in our group and they had a treat for him as well.

 

Our next stop after that was a lookout over the city.  There was a board there that listed all the hills in the distance.

 

 

We had a great view of Cairns.  Our ship is somewhere off to the left.

 

Our final stop was a Palm Cove beach, a resort area on the ocean.  It was about a 25 minute drive, and we had about 15-20 minutes there to use the restrooms and look at the water.  Lots of restaurants and hotels there.  I’m not sure it was worth the drive, but it was only about 20 minutes back to Yorkie’s Knob, and we arrived about an hour before the last tender.  

 

We were able to get on the next tender, which turned out to be a local larger boat.  It was about thirty minutes back, and probably smoother then the ships tender, but there were a lot of people to unload, so it took almost another 30 minutes to get off.

 

Because we hadn’t had lunch, I went to the lounge once on board and had some tea.  Then back to the room to watch them hoist the last tender.  That took quite a while as there was significant wind, and the crew in the tender could not connect with the ropes to hoist the boat.  The rescue boat came out with a couple more people to help and they finally got it done.

 

We changed for dinner and went to the lounge for a while, then dinner.

 

I started with the glazed baby veggies, and it’s the only picture I got tonight. 

 

 

Dinner was uneventful, other than I forgot what I had, and we have another earlyish start tomorrow, so we called it a night.

 

 

 

[MicCanberra]

Welcome to Sydney 

 

[MicCanberra]

Ships larger than 300 metres cannot use the dock right in Cairns, also larger ships cannot moor very close to the township due to the tides and being to shallow. They have a channel which has been dug out and constantly dredged which would allow it closer but then the ship would block the channel for all other ships. Tendering would take much longer than 30 minutes and the ship is as well protected from weather changes.

Yorkers know is considered a better option due to being a more sheltered area for tendering.

All I know is that it is a real pain of a port when you are on a larger ship.

[hcat]

17 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

Here's the next day.  Should I complete?

 

Megatrip Day 16. Yorkie’s Knob (Cairns) Friday 2

 

Today is our second of two private tours on this cruise (4 ports, two ship/two private).  It’s a tender port, and Ann and I have arranged that the Retreat Concierges will take all of us off.  Ann and I agreed to meet at 8:15 inside the entrance to the Club, and we asked the rest to come at 8:30.  

 

We ordered a light breakfast in the room at 7, and Walter brought it soon after, and at 8:10 we were ready to go.

 

I ran into two of our group outside the club, and brought them.  Everyone was there by 8:30, so Mar took us out.  We boarded the tender, but had to wait for it to fill, but by about 8:40 we were on our way.  The tender ride here is close to 30 minutes, so we arrived at 9:10.  Our tour is at 9:30, so all good.  

 

Dorinda contacted the company, and they had us wait at the entrance to a boat club.  At 9:15, Chris, our guide arrived, and off we went to Cairns. (The r is silent).  Apparently the two biggest industries are sugar and tourism.  We passed sugar fields on the way in.

 

Our first stop was the St. Margaret’s Cathedral.  This church has, by far, the most interesting stained glass windows I’ve ever seen.  The front two commemorate WW2.  Here’s one.

 

 

The story of creation is told along the walls, and it’s the scientific one.  Some pictures.  

 

 

 

And the other entrance piece.

 

 

If they interest you, you might want to see more info at their website.

 

Following that, we drove and saw some of the sights.  Because we were running a bit early, we stopped at the park at the lagoon.  

 

 

Curiously, there is a cruise dock in town for smaller ships, so I don’t know why we don’t tender to there.  Maybe somebody knows?

 

There were a number of birds there, and we saw this cute baby bird.

 

 

Our next stop was the museum, which was a small museum about the history of Cairns.  We were given an overview by a museum guide and we got some time to explore.  They acknowledge and feature their indigenous population.

 

 

Our next stop was the Botanical Gardens.  We did not have time to see all of it, but Chris was very knowledgeable about it, and we saw lots of plants.

 

 

We also saw the local turkey vulture.

 

 

There are some very old banyan trees.  Apparently they build around a host tree, and eventually the host dies.

 

 

And of course there are chocolate trees (technically cocoa)

 

 

And some wild ginger

 

 

And no botanical garden would be complete without some flowering plants.

 

 

After that, we headed to a nice cafe for some tea (coffee or soft drinks also available) and a scone.  The scones were large and flavored with lemon and dates.  We had one gluten free person in our group and they had a treat for him as well.

 

Our next stop after that was a lookout over the city.  There was a board there that listed all the hills in the distance.

 

 

We had a great view of Cairns.  Our ship is somewhere off to the left.

 

Our final stop was a Palm Cove beach, a resort area on the ocean.  It was about a 25 minute drive, and we had about 15-20 minutes there to use the restrooms and look at the water.  Lots of restaurants and hotels there.  I’m not sure it was worth the drive, but it was only about 20 minutes back to Yorkie’s Knob, and we arrived about an hour before the last tender.  

 

We were able to get on the next tender, which turned out to be a local larger boat.  It was about thirty minutes back, and probably smoother then the ships tender, but there were a lot of people to unload, so it took almost another 30 minutes to get off.

 

Because we hadn’t had lunch, I went to the lounge once on board and had some tea.  Then back to the room to watch them hoist the last tender.  That took quite a while as there was significant wind, and the crew in the tender could not connect with the ropes to hoist the boat.  The rescue boat came out with a couple more people to help and they finally got it done.

 

We changed for dinner and went to the lounge for a while, then dinner.

 

I started with the glazed baby veggies, and it’s the only picture I got tonight. 

 

 

Dinner was uneventful, other than I forgot what I had, and we have another earlyish start tomorrow, so we called it a night.

 

 

 

great photos and commentary.. seems like alot to cram in on one day but that happens in some ports..